Our Troubled Future
by Tessa-MarKEWLIO
Summary: The Titans are thrust into the future that is very different from their present. All of the mutants, otherwise known as diffs, are being captured and cured, aka killed. And the killers have found the Titans. Which one of them will be next?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, IamtotallyKewlio here. Here's the long awaited chapter one of ... what are we calling this story? Hey, SJB, what's it called?**

What _are _we calling this story?

**I guess we could call it... **

Um...

**Grand. Well, hopefully we'll come up with a name by the end of the chapter... see ya'll there.**

* * *

Beast Boy rolled over and looked at the clock. "Ts 10 clock awreny?" (_Morning talk for 'It's ten o'clock already?' Try saying it out loud_) he mumbled. He rolled again, this time falling out of bed and landing on a putrid pile of clothes. 

"So, finally you awaken." The voice came from above him. His mind quickly ran through a list of people it could be in split second, starting at Santa Claus and going all the way down to… no, it couldn't be him… He looked up, surprised to see some random albino kid standing over him, looking down at him with purple eyes. Standing up, he thought of something extremely intelligent to say, and let it fly:

"Huh?" The white-haired boy shook his head, then got to business.

"You will come with me. We have some… _tests_ we need to run." If there was one thing Beast Boy knew, it was not to go with random strangers who said they wanted to run tests on you.

"Look, dude. If you thought I was coming with you before, there is no way that I'm going now. Tests and me don't mix." The pale boy shook his head again before lunging at Beast Boy and pinning him to the wall.

"Two things, _Garfield,_" the word held vicious poison in it, but the boy wasn't done yet. He drove his fist into Beast Boy's stomach, at the same time moving a hand around his throat, choking off a call for help. "One, never call me 'dude.' And two, you do not have a choice." Beast Boy dug his elbow into the boy's stomach, then broke free and darted toward the common room.

* * *

Cyborg's eye twitched as the scene before him unfolded. No one else had volunteered for the task of making lunch, so, Star had readily jumped on it. The result: a heaping plate of something that resembled a cat that had attacked a lawn-mower and lost, then gotten shoved into a ditch just for good measure. With a gulp, he underwent the second hardest thing that anyone can do: he complemented Star's cooking. 

"Looks… tasty?" Though it came out as a question, it was greeted with a level of enthusiasm that only the Tamaranian princess could attain. She whisked him into his chair, followed closely by Robin and Raven's arrival. Raven was next, taking the third most unwanted task before Robin could steal it: finding out what exactly they would be attempting to eat.

"So… what is it, Starfire?" Seeing as Raven's voice rarely held any emotion anyway, the disgust wasn't noticed.

"It is clesternauctch, friends!" she answered gleefully, sprinkling a sickly neon-green substance onto said "food". "It is most delicious!"

"Hey," said Cyborg, looking around, "where's the grass stain? If we have to eat this stuff, Beast Boy should have to…" he bit back the word 'suffer' as he saw the joyous look on Starfire's face as the Boy Wonder attempted the worst task of all: finding something edible on his plate and finding the guts to eat it. Realizing he had left his sentence hanging, he finished it: "To enjoy it with us."

"Just to be curious," Robin said after eating a spoonful or two off of his plate, "What was that green stuff?" The response made him wish he hadn't asked.

"It is a kind of mold particular to my home planet," she answered. "It is harvested when the smell matches rotted glorgan, then stored in the stomach of a sporkan, transferred to sulfuric acid for a moment, and then left to brew in-"

Robin, attempting to keep the small amount of the sporkan stomach mold he had eaten from making the guest appearance on the table, cut her off, changing the subject. "Where _is_ Beast Boy?"

"I haven't seen him for hours," commented Raven. "He's probably trying to come up with a prank or something."

"I don't think he'd be dedicated enough to miss breakfast _and_ lunch, though," Cyborg pointed out.

Just then, there was a very loud bang in the hallway. Everyone froze.

"That was… unexpected," said Raven after a few moments, breaking the silence. The doors to the commons room flew wide open, then the Towers' resident changeling went flying through them and crashed into the far wall. He picked himself up and exclaimed:

"Dude! That was my freakin' SPLEEN! I mean-" His eyes had wandered to the table. "Why is there roadkill on the table?" A boy walked in, cracking his knuckles. His skin was eerily pale, his hair white, and his eyes a pale shade of lavender. He shook his head.

"I gave you a chance to come with me," he began, his pale eyes locked on Beast Boy, "but you declined. So, I shall have to take you by force." His voice was soft and rather peaceful sounding, not the kind of voice you would expect someone to make a threat like that in. Unsure of what to think of this new stranger invading their house and attacking her friend, Starfire went with the first question that popped into her mind:

"Who are you?" she asked, starbolts forming around her hands.

"My name is Shift," he said. "But I might be…" he paused, and suddenly, where he had been standing, Beast Boy was now. "… Beast Boy. Or maybe…" he changed again, "… Raven," said the double of Raven standing in front of them. "Or possibly even…" he changed once more, "Starfire."

Starfire gave a little yelp as her look-a-like melted back into the albino boy. A small smile crossed his face at her confusion as he changed back.

"So, you're a shape shifter. Hence the name. But why are you after Beast Boy?" asked Raven, standing.

"We have… _special_ plans for him," Shift replied. "Although, now that I have found all of you, I could include you as well."

"Sorry," said Robin, also standing, "but _none_ of us are going with you."

"Sorry," said Shift, copying Robin's voice exactly, "but _none_ of you have a choice." Robin lunged at him, only to fall forward as his target became thin air. Ten feet away stood Kid Flash, looking down at the fallen Boy Wonder with dark green eyes.

"Impressive," groaned Robin as he got up off the hard floor. "But Kid Flash has blue eyes."

"Oh," said the look-a-like, blinking. When he opened his eyes, they were a startling shade of blue. "Perfection is difficult." Beast Boy struck a pose.

"I know, but I manage." Shift's blue eyes glared at him for a few seconds, before becoming purple as he returned to his own form.

"That is not what I meant. Besides," he added nonchalantly, "you are far from perfect."

Beast Boy's jaw dropped so hard it almost hit the ground. He put a hand over his heart and said in a high, fake voice, "That hit me, right here."

"This is pointless," Shift sighed, dropping a circular object on the ground. Before anyone could ask what it was, the thing exploded, filling the room with white light. When it faded they were standing in a dark street, surrounded by men wearing black. Robin turned to ask Shift what he had done, but the albino shapeshifter was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

"Sir?" asked a man behind him with brown hair and green eyes. The chief turned to face the man. 

"I know it's you, Shift. That metal band on your shoulder isn't there for nothing." The man changed, getting shorter, thinner, and paler, as well as changing his hair and eye color. "Thank you. Are these the ones?" Shift nodded stiffly. "Why did you bring all five of them at once? I believe that your orders specifically stated that you were to return to the future with only one of them," the chief stated, his voice getting dangerously low.

"I-I" the boy stuttered, fear of the man painfully evident.

"Never mind that," he said, waving his hand as though to brush it away. "We'll deal with it later." There was an audible gulp from Shift, but the man paid no heed. "Which one are we after for now?"

Glad to have the spotlight off of his mistake, even if it was only for a moment, Shift responded quickly, pointing out Beast Boy. "Him. As far as I have noticed, he seems to be the least responsible with his ability."

"Very well. Return to HQ. We should be along shortly with our prisoner in tow."

* * *

Cyborg looked around, using both his robotic and human eyes, one noticing the large number of people, the other scanning for any traces of meta-human DNA. "Yo, Robin," he said quietly, "What do we do? There's too many of them, and my scanners indicate they're all regular people." Robin opened his mouth, about to respond, but lost the opportunity as the sea of people attacked. He slipped out his bo-staff as a man easily twice his size came at him, fists swinging. He jumped into the air and whacked him with the staff, easily knocking him out. He continued weaving in and out of the crowd, attacking anyone unfortunate enough to attack him. The men were like Sladebots; they went down easily, but it seemed that two more sprang up to take their place. Robin let out a frustrated groan and jumped again, taking out another two.

"Azarath, metrion, zinthos!" shouted Raven, her dark energy taking out ten men at a time. Seconds later more had swarmed in and taken their place. She sighed, growing annoyed. She reached out with her power, grabbing every box barrel, and anything else within her reach and hurtled it at them, causing a good number of them to run.

Cyborg was having a difficult time. He couldn't use his sonic cannon for fear of seriously injuring someone, so he had to use his fists… which, truthfully, was just fine with Cyborg. He smiled as another one bit the dust. They kept coming, and he kept hitting.

Starfire picked up a wooden crate and tossed it at some men. One of them didn't move in time, and it landed on top of him. Starfire gasped and floated over, apologizing the whole way. She pulled it off of him and helped him up, only to knock him out by hugging him too tightly. She half shrugged, then turned to her next opponent.

Beast Boy was starting to panic. He had seen how easily, his friends were taking down their attackers, yet he was seemingly doing no damage. He had attacked them with every animal he could think of, and they simply wouldn't go down. Worse, they were closing in on him, forcing him backwards with every step they took. He was beginning to feel like a caged animal, and his instincts were demanding that he get away from the men. Just as he was contemplating which animal to change into to get away, someone grabbed him from behind. A thought flashed through his racing mind: get help. He opened his mouth to shout, but whoever had grabbed him clamped their hand over his mouth. If he was afraid before, now he was all out terrified.

The boy the chief had instructed them to capture was small, but strong. He struggled hard and fast, desperate to get away. If it hadn't been for the fact that Powerhouse was holding onto him, he probably would have escaped. Teeth gritted, Powerhouse forced the boy to tip his head to the side, exposing the soft skin of his neck where they would inject the tranquilizer. He then motioned to an officer, who brought out the needle. Upon seeing it, the boy's struggles started anew, so much fiercer that even Powerhouse was having trouble holding on to him. His desperate attempts at escape were now accompanied by muffled cries of terror.

The needle slid under his green skin easily, drawing out a stifled yelp, followed by a soft groan as the drug took affect. It took a few seconds for him to stop fighting against his captor, but his body finally relaxed. Once the boy was safely stowed in the back of the police van, the order was given to let his friends win.

* * *

Robin hit another man and took him down. He looked around, panting. The few men left standing were running away. Starfire floated into the air, ready to round them up. Robin put up his hand to stop her. 

"No, just let them go," he said. "We have to check on the others." Just then, Cyborg came running over. He was smiling.

"Man, I forget how much fun hand to hand is!" he exclaimed. "I should do that more often!" Raven floated over, rolling her eyes.

"I'm just glad that's over with. I'll probably need to meditate for an hour-" she was cut off by a series of Raven induced explosions. "-make that two…" she sighed.

Suddenly, Starfire looked around, confused. "Friends, not everyone has shared in their vigor of battle. Where is Beast Boy?"

* * *

**Heh, heh. Cool. I just figured out how to put in those lines... schweet.**

**Seeing as I forgot these at the top:**

**Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to _goldmark25_, seeing as (s)he kicked my butt up and down the street to get me to put this up. Thanx much.**

**Character usage: Shift is mine; Powerhouse belongs to my little brother, Gunshow7 (his new profile).**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Teen Titans. Not even a little. **Though we wish that we did.

**And, our story's name is** the one cure to RULE THEM ALL!!! -gets Gibbsed by ImtK-Owwie... Sorry, couldn't help it.

**SJB, if you're not gonna help me, QUIT STEALING MY LAPTOP!**

Eep! Sowwy...

**-Growls at you- It's new name is **Our Troubled Future?

**SJB! THAT... actually works. Cool.**


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, this is TeSsA-MaRkOv (aka SJB)!!! –gets shoved to the ground- GAAAAAAH!!

**You can't answer reviews! Those were mine! -glares at SJB- :P**

-twitches on the ground- I'm sorry…

**For those of you who don't know this, we're taking turns writing chapters, and this time's hers. She'll answer the reviews for this chapter in our next chapter.**

…yeah… hey, ImTK, can you stop crushing my liver? It's getting slightly uncomfortable.

**Oh. Sure thing. –stops stepping on SJB- There ya go. **

Thanks… now could you get off my lung?

**Nope. Sorry, but I won't until you start writing your chapter. I can't wait to read it!!**

Well then, GIVE ME THE LAPTOP!! –ImTK holds it out of reach-

**If you want it, take it. –throws laptop at SJB- Now get writing!!**

-Picks up laptop but it suddenly explodes from being thrown TO THE GROUND!!- Well… this might be a predicament…

**Chapter 2** –starring SJB!! (gets hit with a blunt object) …sorry…-

"Beast Boy?" Robin's call echoed through the air, going unanswered. He suddenly turned to his team. "When did you last see him?" he asked, his voice unnecessarily harsh.

"I saw him while we were fighting," Starfire answered, "but only briefly."

"Same story here," Cyborg said. "I didn't see much of him."

"Didn't hear much either," Raven said. "Everything was too loud to hear anything besides the people attacking."

"Did you see anything suspicious?!" Robin said, his voice sounding irritated.

"I think people coming out of no where and deciding to attack us is pretty suspicious," Raven said in her normal emotionless tone, a slight bit of sarcasm thrown in.

"_Where is he?"_ They were sure that he did not mean to, but his voice expressed accusations against them.

"Friend Robin," Starfire said softly, "we do not know. Please do not lose your trust of us."

"I'm not," Robin said, immediately softening his tone. "It's just that I'm worried."

"Then let us start searching," Starfire said. "The sooner that we have discovered his whereabouts, the better it will be."

Robin nodded. But before they left, they finally looked at their surroundings. It was a dark place. There were a few buildings to their left and right, all of which had their blinds closed. The street had an eerie feeling about it, no people coming or going either way; all of the streets were completely deserted. One thing was for sure: They weren't in Jump City anymore.

"Where are we anyway?" Raven asked, speaking Robin's mind. "I don't recognize it from anywhere."

"Neither do I," Robin said. "But we'll find out soon enough. Let's get going."

The rest of the Titans silently agreed, and they set off. But, unbeknownst to them, they weren't the only ones leaving. A figure watched them from the shadows. They knew, now that the Titans were missing their member with extremely acute hearing, they would be very easy to pursue, without the fear of being discovered. They darted out of the alley and crept in the shadows of the buildings, making barely any noise.

The chase had begun.

"Where shall we go?" Starfire asked. "Where are the police? Surely they could help us?"

"Maybe we should ask around?" Cyborg suggested.

"That's a good idea," Raven said. "Though, it might help if there were actually people around to ask."

"Hold on for one of the moments, please," Starfire said. She then left contact from the ground and went up into the sky. She went up at least thirty feet and started looking around. She stayed up for at least two minutes, and then came back down to her team-mates. "I do not see any buildings that I can distinguish as buildings of the police. But I do see people."

"Where?" Robin asked. "How many?"

"They are down that way," Starfire answered, pointing down one of the streets. "And there were many people."

"Let's go there," Robin said. "It'll get us somewhere." They then headed off. And their stalker also came with them. 'Where are they going?' they thought to themselves. 'Don't they know that they're heading for trouble?'

As a matter of fact, they didn't.

After a few minutes, the Titans had arrived to their destination. As Starfire had said, many people were gathered here, making the way very crowded. There was chatter all around, barely anyone taking notice of their presence. But, in the middle of it all was a girl. Behind her were several people dressed in dark red, all holding her back. The girl was dressed in ragged clothing that covered all of her body, her greasy black hair covering some her face. She was screaming at the men, trying to escape their grasp. The men laughed along with the rest of the crowd as the girl struggled fruitlessly. They were enjoying her pain.

"What's wrong, little girl?" one of the men asked. "Scared that you'll get "cured"?"

"No!" she screamed, trying to pry herself away from them. "Don't! You don't understand!"

The men laughed once again. "Get the tranquilizer," another man said. "She's a fierce one."

"No!" she screamed again. "You don't get it! Let me go! LET ME GO!"

"Or what?" a different man asked. "You'll kill us like you did your parents?"

The girl stopped struggling at once. She went limp and fell to her knees as tears ran down her face. "I didn't mean to," she said. "I would never mean to do that to someone..."

"And you will never do it again," the man said. "We'll make sure of that."

"You don't get it," she cried. "If you do this, I'll..."

"What?" someone from the crowd asked. "Sob us to death?"

"I CAN KILL YOU!" she screamed desperately. "If you don't let me go, I have a possibility of killing you all! Let me--" She screamed as someone grabbed her hair and jerked her head back.

"Sedate her," a man said. "Do it quickly!"

"Please," the girl said weakly. "Please, I don't want to hurt anyone else."

"You won't." The man pulled out a needle.

"LET HER GO!" Robin shouted, anger boiling up inside of him. These people were animals! How could they watch a girl suffer like this and _laugh_?

People turned to face them. Some gasped, some laughed, and others stared at them maliciously, hope of torturing them as well painted on their face. The sight was sickening; how could these people enjoy the pain of others so much?

"Save the girl!" Robin said. "Titans, GO!"

The Titans all went off in their different directions. The people scattered left and right, less willing to fight as they were to torture. They shoved each other out of the way, trying to escape from the fight. The ones who decided to stay and try to fight were easily shoved and blasted out of the way.

"Sedate her, NOW!" a man yelled. The man who was holding the needle lifted it up and brought it to the back of the girl's neck. It came in contact right as a star bolt hit him squarely in the chest. He collapsed backward as the girl ran forward. She wended her way through the crowd and headed for an alley. But right before she reached its safety, someone grabbed her around the wrist. "No you don't!" they called evilly. They smiled at her attempts to get away, but their face suddenly went blank. They fell to the ground and started shivering violently. The girl looked down at him, her eyes filling with tears. She then turned around quickly and ran into the darkness of the alley. Starfire meant to follow her, but the fight had to come first. She turned around to start fighting once more when...

**BOOM!**

An explosion went off above them, causing everyone to panic. Some of those who had decided to stay were now quickly leaving; too cowardly to stay and find out what was happening. Robin looked upwards, but his view was suddenly disabled: it had been a smoke bomb. Everything was dark, nothing more than a foot away from him visible. He felt around and tried to find his other teammates. Suddenly, someone grabbed him and started pulling him. He tried to fight against them, but they had too strong of a grip on him. Suddenly, he found himself in an abandoned street free of smoke. He looked around and saw who had brought him here.

It was a girl with blonde hair and green eyes. She was about as tall as he was. She was thin and dressed in second-hand-looking clothes. She had a few very minor bruises and scratches, giving her the look of a person who got in a lot of fights. She, however, had a mischievous expression on her face.

"What were ya doing?" she asked. "Do you have anger management or something?"

"Who are you?" he asked. "Where did you come from? Where did you get those bombs? Why—"

"Holy crap, hold on one sec!" she said, waving her hands. "One question at a time. I know I'm a genius and everything, but I can't remember every question that you ask me!

"Okay, to answer your first question, you can call me Mia. It's not my real name, but no one really gives a crap. Two, I came from a place where I live. DUH!" Robin glared at her at this point, but Mia ignored it for the time being. "And three, I like bombs. They make big noises and pretty lights. Good enough for ya?"

"No," Robin said, still glaring at her.

"Well, too bad, sucks to be you," she answered, laughing slightly. "Now, if you'll stop taking up my time with all of your talking, I'll go get your other teammates."

"What?" Robin asked, exasperated. "I've barely—"

"See, you're doing it again! Won't you shut up?"

Robin was about to shout at her when she finally turned around, laughing, and headed out for the others. After a few seconds, Raven was brought in, looking confused. She asked about the same questions that Robin had asked and Mia had just about as much fun as she had had before. When Mia went back into the smoke, Raven was fuming, also close to killing Mia. Then Cyborg came, and the same procedure happened with the same results.

Finally, Starfire was pulled into the street, the same dazed look on her face.

"Please, who are you, where are you from, and what is your favorite color?"

"Mia, place that I live, and what?" She seemed a little surprised by how random the last question had been.

"What is your favorite color?" Starfire asked again. "I am simply curious."

"Oh. Okay, um, azul."

"Azul?" Starfire repeated, confused. "What is this 'azul'?"

"It's a color," Mia answered. "It's an _awesome_ color!"

"It's Spanish for 'blue'," Robin said. "She's just being a smart-aleck."

"Yeppers," Mia said. "It's mah thing!"

"Great," Raven said. "It's Beast Boy, only a girl and not green."

"You talking 'bout the dude that the police took?" Mia asked. "That's a pretty cool name."

"Wait," Cyborg said. "The guys who attacked us and took B. B…. _they_ were the police?"

"Yeppers again," Mia said. "They were the people that were being freaks to that girl too."

"What?" Robin asked. "They're police?"

"Yeah… or at least that's what we have to call 'em nowadays. I don't really believe it either."

"But they are supposed to enforce the law and catch those who break it, not break it themselves!" Starfire cried.

"Things have changed over all of these years," Mia said. "Back in the twenty-first century, they fought for justice and all of that good stuff. But about twenty-five years ago, everything changed. The police started going after the super heroes. The heroes were heavily outnumbered. The police killed most of them in the end. Ever since then, heroes weren't known as meta-humans, super heroes, or anything like that. They became 'diff's'. They use the term horribly. The word itself is used as an insult or a threat all the time. It's horrible."

"So you're a diff or whatever?" Cyborg asked.

"Nope," Mia said. "My brother was one, though. They killed him right in front of me. After that, they locked me up." She smiled all of a sudden. "But that's where I met my buddy."

"Your…?"

Suddenly someone stepped out of the shadows. The person wore a sweatshirt that fully covered their arms and hands and jeans that did the same thing. But even in the dark area, something gleamed under his hood. It was a fang.

"Meet mah buddy," Mia said. The person grunted in greeting.

"Um... hello,"Starfire said. "What is your name?"

"His name's Fang," Mia said. "He doesn't like talking much." Fang nodded silently.

"Hold on a second," Robin said. "Twenty-five years ago? From what I remember, heroes were still treated with respect."

Mia paused for a few seconds. "For my whole life, life's sucked for diff's. My family's never been respected."

"What year is it?" Raven asked. "Maybe Shift brought us into the future?"

"Possibly," Mia said. "Well, the year's 2307."

"_WHAT_?!" Mia jumped slightly and Fang growled. They had been brought forward three hundred years?

"Er... yeah," Mia said. "2307. And last year was 2306. Oh, and surprisingly enough, the year before that was--" she screamed "--2305!"

"But it's 2007 in our time!"

"No wonder you looked so retarded," Mia said. "You were basically trying to commit suicide back there."

"What happened with the government?" Cyborg asked. "Why did they start going after meta-humans, or diff's or whatever you want to call them?"

"A stupid thing that they call "public safety," Mia answered. "Emphesis on _freaking stupid!_"

"But we're the ones protecting them!" Robin said.

"You really think that they care?" Mia asked. "They got scared of us, of what we can do. They didn't want to take chances. They acted before they even took a second to think about what they were doing.

"Ever since then, diff's have been hiding, trying to stop the police. But since then, a lot of them have been killed trying. Most of them started hiding. Others didn't show their powers, but werestill caught. Then the government went after some of the families too, thus how I got in the picture. Only my brother had powers, no one else did. But they still didn't want to take chances. They took my brother, Andre, and me and my parents, just to make sure. Have no idea where my parents are or what state they're in. As I said, they killed my brother. They were planning on kiling me too, but Fang and I were able to escape.

"After that, we decided to form a team. The two of us were the first members. We started recruiting people, mostly from the camps that they kept diff's at until they got a day for them to be, quote-on-quote, "cured". We also went to some that were in hiding. So far, we have a few. We're planning to get more, but we've got a good amount so far.

"Hey, since you kinda don't have a place to live or anything right now, how about you come be with our team for a while?"

"What?" Robin asked.

"You could help us, too," Mia said. "We could get as much as we can. Looks like you could, too, with your team member gone and all."

"I say that we leave with her," Starfire said. "I would like help with finding Friend Beast Boy."

Robin comtemplated this for a few minutes. Finally, he said, "Okay. We'll stay. Let's go."

-End Chapter-

**Yes! SJB, you've finally finished! -reads the chapter- O.O You left it there!? Wah! Write more! er... It's my turn tol write a chapter, huh?**

You can't blame me anymore!

**Oh! You forgot the disclaimer and character usage thingy!**

Disclaimer: We don't own Teen Titans. But we do own Mia, Fang, that one girl, and some of the police officers. The rest of the police officers are too sucky to be owned.

**They're called police _dudes_, SJB. Sheesh. I don't think we used anyone's OCs in this chapter, but we will! Bye, see ya next chapter!**

Adios! Until you read our story again!


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, IamtotallyKewlio here! Finally finished chapter three, sorry for the wait!**

Yeah, sorry. By the way, it's all ImtK's fault!!

**Yeah, well, you're the one who gave me your cold over the phone!!! You suck!**

That's not even possible! ...plus, I'm not sucking, I'm sniffling. There's a difference.

**Eww... I didn't need to know your symptoms, SJB. **

Well, sorry! -sniffs really loud- But there's nothing with it! -sniffs extremely loud- It's _natural!_

**Oookaay... anyways, on to the chapter!**

* * *

Beast Boy groaned and attempted to curl up and go back to sleep. Attempted to. His eyes opened as he realized he couldn't turn into a cat and get comfortable, which probably would have difficult anyway as he was lying on a hard metal floor. He focused on the form of a cat, panic rising in his chest as his body simply refused to change shape. He tried many other animals, each with the same result. 

Trying to calm down, he had his breath, listening for any clues as to where he might be. There was a loud engine running. Was he in the back of a van? He looked around. The walls, floor and ceiling were made out of some sort of metal, which had been painted a blinding white. Still somewhat dazed, he rolled over and clambered to his feet, steadying himself as the small room began to spin. He bent over, clutching his stomach, squeezing his eyes shut until the horrid feeling passed. He opened his eyes, black dots dancing in his field of view before disappearing, and looked up. His eyes swept the walls of the small room, taking in his surroundings. It looked like the back of an ambulance; there were all sorts of vials and needles, a folded up cot in the corner with some bands that looked suspiciously like metal straps attached. He vaguely wondered why he had woken up on the floor when there was a perfectly good cot so close at hand…

Halfway through his thought, another wave of nausea hit him hard, forcing him to collapse to the ground. This time, it was more the smell that got to him. It reeked disgustingly of medicine, the overpowering smell halfway masking the other, less pleasant, smells, such as sweat, vomit, and, worryingly enough, blood, and lots of it. That smell alone was almost enough to prevent him from standing. But he had to get up. He dragged himself over to the folded up cot and gripped it tightly, using it to hoist himself off the ground. Once he was standing, he let go of it, or at least made an effort to. However, it fell to the ground with an incredibly loud clang, so loud he was sure that whoever was supposed to keeping an eye on him heard it.

His hunch was correct, as he heard tires screech to a halt, sending him sprawling across the ground, and car doors open. Maybe he was in an ambulance, after all. He didn't have much time to think about it, though, as a third wave of nausea hit him.

* * *

Several people crowded around the police van as it skidded to a halt. Four police men jumped out of the front of it, and did their best to hold them back as the paramedics climbed out. 

"Please stay back," ordered one of the men. "We have a very dangerous diff in the back." Most of the people backed up, wanting to catch a glimpse of the diff, but not wanting to be close enough to get hurt. A few of the people, active haters of the diffs ready to torment whatever freak was in the back, tried to get closer.

The two doctors hustled into the back of the ambulance and shut the doors behind them, ready to perform the necessary tasks to get the situation under control. One of them stifled a laugh at the sight of the green boy sprawled out on the floor.

"Looks like the sedative worked alright, even without a sample of his blood. There's no way this little freak gonna hurt anyone." The boy in question looked up weakly at the phrase 'little freak,' but made no move to attack. To reiterate his statement, the man walked over and gave the boy a vicious kick, sending him rolling across the floor.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," warned his partner, getting out a few vials and pouring some clear liquid into them. "The weaker sedative only knocks out their freakish abilities for an hour at most. Plus, the reports say he's a shape shifter. They're generally a bit fiercer than the others, and the tranquilizer doesn't last as long. I'm guessing his body's in the last stages of purging his system of the drug. In a few minutes, he'll be feeling better and ready to get back at you." Choosing to ignore his partner's warning, he continued to torment the boy.

"So, you're a shape shifter, huh?" he asked. "Can't be a very good one," he kicked him again, "seeing as you're green." Still, the boy didn't even try to fight back, only looking up at the man, hurt evident in his green eyes.

"Knock it off, Greg," came his partner's voice. "Now, I need your help to finish getting this ready, because I won't be held responsible for what happens if he gets his weird powers back while you're within his reach."

"Fine. You gonna hold him, or do you want me to?" The other doctor thought for a minute.

"You're already over there. You might as well hold him," he answered finally. The other man bent down and gripped the boy's arm, yanking roughly on it to pull him into a standing position.

"Now, hold still, you little freak. This'll only hurt a little." The boy was slowly becoming more active, forcing Greg to hold him tighter. "Hey, hurry up with that," he called, a hint of worry in his voice. "He's waking up." He smiled as his colleague picked up an empty needle, and advanced on them.

"All right, hold still," he murmured when he was close to the changeling's ear. His voice was calm and soothing, an attempt to lull the boy back into stillness. "I just need a little sample of your blood…" the needle slid under the skin of his shoulder, causing the boy to flinch slightly. "Yeah, I don't like needles either, but I'm almost done… there we go." He walked quickly back over to the counter and added the blood to one of the vials of clear liquid, which then turned blue. He got out a clean needle and drew some of the substance into it, then turned around and walked more slowly toward his partner and their captive. Placing a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder, he whispered, "Now I'm just gonna give you this shot, and then you'll feel better in a little while," before easing the needle into the boy's neck.

After only a few seconds, the green boy passed out, collapsing against the very man who had been so intent on harming him. "Jeez, John," said Greg, "I swear, the way you work with these freaks…" he gave the boy a little shake, "it's, well, freaky." John gave a little half-smile.

"It's a gift, I guess. Come on, we gotta get this guy back to HQ."

* * *

Shift was sitting in his 'room,' actually a jail cell in the holding bay for the diffs that were part of the police force. Though they were treated better than the diffs that got grabbed off the street and brought in for curing, they were still considered prisoners. He sighed and pulled at the uncomfortable black jumpsuit he and the other police diffs wore, then pulled down on the sleeve to reveal the armband, also a police standard. The armbands enabled the police to keep track of their diffs, and could knock out their power with the press of the button. He traced the number engraved on it, S035, his identification code. His name had been taken away from him, and now he was known only as his number and nickname, Shift. 

Bored, his mind wandered back to the green boy… Beast Boy, was it? He wondered what would happen to him once he was brought to the headquarters. Normally, he would be recruited into the police force, seeing as shape shifting was considered a valuable weapon for the police, but he was green, a trait that seemed to be prevalent in any form he took, and probably would be seen as useless, which would mean… Shift shuddered slightly. They were going to cure him.

A doctor walked by, easily identified as such because he was wearing white. Shift observed with some interest, glad to have something to take his mind off the fact he had turned in another of his own kind for curing. He stopped in front of Shift's cell and unlocked it, beckoning for Shift to follow him. "Training," he explained simply. Shift gulped quietly. Training would be brutal; he had followed an order incorrectly.

K7K7K7K7K7K7K7

Shift panted, two robots poised to attack him at any second. He was in the middle of his training program, which was cranked up to level 15 –his normal level was 9- and was currently taking some serious damage. His body was covered in bruises and even several cuts. He wiped sweat out of his eyes, and charged the robots again, this time trying the tactic of Beast Boy: attacking as an animal. A black bear lunged at one of the robots, tearing at it with its sharp claws. He destroyed the robot, then cried out in anguish as the other robot sent several volts of electricity ripping through his body. He collapsed, his body returning to his humanoid form. The robot reached down and gripped him by the collar, hoisting him off the floor with one strong jerk.

Shift reached back and grabbed its hands, trying to pry them away, and started kicking at air. The robot began squeezing, tightening its grip on his neck until he held still. It dropped him onto the ground, and, before he could recover, had grabbed him by the ankle and held him upside-down. His hands hung above his head, and he looked down at the robot with fear. He was in a dire position, and, unless someone turned off the training session, he could sustain some severe injuries. After a few tense seconds, the robot began walking, out of the training room and into the control room. There stood the chief, who had apparently been watching the whole battle. He smiled cruelly down at the boy.

"Hello, S035. I take it your training session went well?" he asked. Shift didn't respond. "S035." The man's tone was harsher, more like an order. "I asked you a question." The robot's grip on his ankle tightened, and the armband send a light jolt through his body.

"It was… fine."

"Fine, what?"

"…fine, sir." As soon as the words left his mouth, the robot dropped him. He looked up at the chief with a mixture of hate and fear.

"You may return to your room." And with that, the chief left.

* * *

Beast Boy groaned and closed his eyes tighter before opening them. The last thing he remembered, somebody was kicking him across the ground, then talking to him like he was a four-year-old… or was that two different people? He tried to sit up, but couldn't move to do so. In fact, he couldn't move at all. He tugged at the straps holding him down, though not fully caring whether he got free or not. It was like his mind was in a dense fog; he was conscious, only physically, not mentally. He heard people's voices, but couldn't comprehend what the words meant. 

"…he's moving…"

"…awake?"

"Not sure, but I'll find out." This voice was closer, and more familiar. He'd heard it before… telling Greg to leave him alone… A man came into view, wearing a white lab coat and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. He smiled down at him. "Hey," he said, still smiling. "My name's John. Can you tell me who you are?"

"'m Beast Boy…" he slurred, his words running together and not coming out right. He heard it, too, but still wasn't concerned.

John smiled down at the green boy, apparently Beast Boy, with some pity. He was drugged up pretty badly, and wasn't headed anywhere pleasant. The boy mimicked his smile, a stupid-looking grin spreading across his face. He had noticed him tugging lightly at the straps, another indicator of just how far under he was. Anyone thinking clearly would be desperately trying to escape, just because of the fact they were strapped down at the ankles, wrists, chest and neck.

"'m tired…" he mumbled. John smiled at him again.

"You can go back to sleep," he whispered. "I won't tell." He muttered something that sounded close to "Thanks" before falling unconscious. John turned to his co-workers, the smile that he always wore when working with diffs gone. "Yep," he said. "He's not getting up any time soon."

"Sort of strange," commented one of the other doctors, "Most of them have developed at least a slight immunity to these drugs. His body doesn't seem to know what to do with them."

"I guess he was just lucky enough to have stayed off the police's wanted list," said John with a shrug. "Maybe he never met that one chick. What was her name? M-something?"

"Melinda, I think. Yeah, that sounds right."

* * *

Shift glared at the ceiling of his room. His bruises were starting to blacken, and were getting extremely sore. And, on top of that, he had had the embarrassment of having the robot carry him to his room, once again by the ankle. Generally, a doctor would have come by and given him an injection of one of the many captive healers' blood, but, seeing as his training was actually part of his punishment, he'd have to either wait for his wounds to heal naturally or get picked for a mission and need to be healed. But there was no way that the training session was going to be all of his punishment, even with the embarrassment of being escorted to his room. He guessed there was something else coming.

* * *

Okay, time for disclaimer! Today, I am your disclaimer-ee!

Disclaimer: Beast Boy and any other related characters are not our property. They are property of Warner Brothers and/or DC comics. Shift, the doctors, police, robot, etc. are our (Tessa-MarKEWLIO) propery and not yours. Deal with it.

**Wow. Thanks for the ever-so polite diclaimer, SJB. Well, time to put this bad boy up.**


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, it's TeSsA-MaRkOv again!

**Yeah, she's working on chapter four!!! Can't wait to read it!!**

Yeah, it's gonna be _fuuuuuun_!

**Uh… Oh! Weren't you gonna answer the reviews from chapter two? 'Cause you can do that now, I guess.**

Oh, yeah!! Well, here're the reviews!!!

**Moondragonheart**- Thanks! And ImtK says "Thanks for saying 'Dudes'!"

Thanks!!

**Black Raven 13**- Thanks!

**Bloody Angel X**- Well, just to clarify, Mia runs away and defends herself and her buddies from the police a lot, so she's abnormally strong (but it's not a power!). And… umm… good eye sight and training? Let's go with that!

Thanks!

**goldmark25**- Thanks.

Okay, well, there are the reviews! Hurray!

… **(Long silence) You can start the chapter now, SJB.**

What if I don't wanna? –gets evil glare from ImtK- …Don't eat me...

**No, seriously, SJB. Start the chapter.**

…Okay…

…You mean now? –gets hit in the head with a blunt object- …Okay…

Now?

**I. KILL. YOU!!**

You mean right now, as in now as in at this very moment at this present time?

**-growls at you- SJB…**

Okay, let's go! Stop making me procrastinate, ImtK! You are such a horrible influence!

**Oh, I kill you. And I make it slow.**

…Okay, let's go!!!!

**Chapter 4**

The group, containing all the Titans excluding Beast Boy, and Mia, went farther and farther to the center of the city. They were traveling fast through alleys and back-ways, the Titans finding it hard to keep up with Mia. They constantly got extremely close to being possibly caught, but they were able to speed by people, being virtually undetected.

"Are we almost there?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah, hold on!" Mia said. "It's not much farther."

They went on in silence for a few minutes, skirting through streets and past more people. Finally, they started to slow down. Mia crept, staying in the shadows and close to the buildings. She peered around a building and then went forward. The Titans followed close behind her. Mia looked back to them, and then pointed to the building across the street. The Titans looked to where she had indicated and became shocked. The building was the Police Department.

"What are we doing here?" Robin asked. "Are you insane?"

"No, actually I think that I'm quite freakin' brilliant," Mia answered. "We needed a place to hide. Where better to hide than where they come to hide themselves?"

"But that could turn out to be a horrible problem in the future!" Starfire said. "They could discover you!"

"But they'd never look where they discuss where they're gonna look!" Mia said. "They think that their building is so perfect! Well, they're in for a nasty wake up call!" Before they could ask any more questions, Mia ran across the street extremely fast. The Titans quickly followed after her. Mia, after the Titans had gotten back with her, got down on to her knees. She then pushed a section of the wall out so it fell into the building. "C'mon," she said. "It's in here." She then dropped through the hole and disappeared.

The Titans followed her. When they first entered, all they could see was darkness, a single ray of light coming through the hole which they had just come through. Mia brushed past them and shoved the piece of building back up into place. Starfire formed a star bolt around her hand, sending light through the area. It was a narrow cave. The blank, dirty walls gave them a total amount of one foot one either side of them if they walked in a single-file line. Needless to say, it was a little crowded.

"Follow me," Mia said. "We still have a little while to go."

"How much farther?" Cyborg asked.

"Probably about a mile, more or less," Mia answered. Cyborg made to say more, but Mia stalled him. "It's going down, so it should be faster. Stop being a baby and be a man!" Cyborg stared at her for a few seconds until, laughing, Mia turned and said, "Come on, peeps, it's down here."

They followed her for about twenty minutes, all of them being mostly quiet, every once in a while asking a question and usually receiving a sarcastic answer in return from Mia. Finally, the cave walls were slowly getting father apart, the ground looking more traveled and used. Mia stopped, as if waiting for something. The four Titans stood still for a few seconds, but all jumped as Mia shouted.

"I'M BACK! IF YOU GONE AND PULLED A MYSTE AND HID MY STUFF AGAIN, I. WILL. KILL. YOU!"

A few mock-shuffling noises came from somewhere and an obviously fake-worried sounding voice answered. "I'm sowwy, Mia! Plaster so totally did it!"

"Oh, come _on!_" a different voice said. "Why does everyone blame _me_?"

"'Cuz it's always you!"

"Nuh uh!"

"'Kay, it's all clear," Mia said. "Just hafta make sure." The Titans nodded weakly, somewhat confused. "C'mon, our place is awesome!"

They went through a small entrance in the wall and entered a room. The walls were still the normal, blank brown, but the floor was covered with rugs, complete with a couch. On the couch was a guy, probably around the age of seventeen, just putting his hand down from in front of his face. He was Hispanic, his eyes a dark brown. His black hair was spiked, none of it covering any of his face or forehead. At the end of the couch was a girl with brown hair. She wore glasses and had light orange braces. She was laughing, peering behind the couch. "C'mon, it doesn't look bad!"

"Yes, it does." The voice was feminine, but at the same time, low and dark. It sounded like it wasn't used often. It immediately reminded Robin, Starfire and Cyborg of Raven.

"No, it doesn't!" the girl with glasses said. "I like it!"

"That's you. You're always too freaking happy."

Starfire giggled slightly. The girl with braces looked away from behind the couch to look at her. "Hi," she said. "Who're you guys?"

"They've come to help us," Mia said. "We're helping them too, so it's good for all of us."

"Cool," the girl said as Mia exited the room. "What're your names?"

They all introduced themselves, each time gaining greetings from the girl. "Well," she said after Robin had introduced himself, "nice to meet all of you! My name's Meghan."

"Magico," the Hispanic boy said weakly. "Nice to meet you."

"G. I.!" Meghan said, peering back behind the couch once again. "Come on, you have to introduce yourself!"

"Name's Ghost Image," the girl said. A hand came over the top of the couch and then sunk back behind it. "There you go, happy now?"

"No," Meghan said. She grabbed behind the couch.

"_Meghan!_" There was some struggling heard. "No! They know my name, and that's good enough! Let me—_MEGHAN!_"

Finally, Meghan fell backwards, a figure came with her. At first, Starfire laughed, but then unwillingly gasped. The girl who had come with Meghan was… scary. Her hair was pure white and put into a long braid. Her bangs were totally hiding the left-side of her face. On the showing part of her face was pale skin. Her eyes were purple, dark shadows beneath them. Her clothes were very baggy, giving her body no apparent form. Her name reflected exactly how she looked: like a ghost.

"Let. Me. GO!" Ghost Image pushed herself up and quickly left the room. Meghan sat up on the floor. "She's nice on the inside," she said. "It's pretty deep down, but she's nice."

"Is she albino or something?" Cyborg asked.

"No," Meghan said. "Just a side effect of her power. And, if you want to be friends with her, I suggest that you ask questions a little bit nicer. She has a bad enough attitude as it is. She doesn't need any help."

"She looks… sick, not to be offending," Starfire said. "She also seems… sad."

"Yeah, I know," Meghan answered. "She doesn't like to talk about her past that much. She's given us basic details. Thrown out of her home by her parents, had to live on the streets for most of her life, people tortured her (she didn't go into details), and she hates to use her powers."

"What are her powers?" Robin asked.

"Summoning," Meghan answered. "She can talk to spirits and have them show themselves," she continued, seeing Starfire's confused look. "She hates it. It's the reason her parents got rid of her."

"Sorry to say I can't blame them," Magico said. "She'd scare me too if she just suddenly started making spirits appear."

"But she was, like, five!" Meghan retorted. "She couldn't fend for herself!"

"I'm not saying I agree with it," Magico said quickly. "I'm just saying that I can understand why they would do what they did."

"Well, I don't," Meghan said. "She's nice!"

"She hates you."

"It's her way of loving her friends!"

"Um… sorry, but, no, it's not."

"How do you know?" Meghan asked.

"Usually, when showing affection, someone doesn't shout at the other person telling them to go away."

"He has a point you know," said a different voice. A boy entered the room he was with (ask TJ about description!!)

"Hey Plaster," Magico said. "Done causing mayhem for the day?"

"Not close," he said, smiling. "But I'll take a break." He sat down in front of Meghan. "You seem to be troubled. Tell me, was your childhood troubled? Did your parents not give you enough cheese? Don't worry, you can tell me the truth, I won't tell anyone. C'mon, you know you wanna tell me."

"Yeah, because you're such a great psychiatrist," Meghan said. "And, yes, I was very deprived of cheese when I was little. And granola, don't forget the granola."

"Anyways," said Mia (Robin and Cyborg slightly jumped, Starfire, being air born, simply flinched, and Raven, being Raven, did nothing.), "I just told the rest of the team to come down and introduce themselves. They should be down here in a few seconds."

After a few seconds, footsteps were heard. People filed in, quickly filling up the room. In the middle of the crowd, someone was dragging Ghost Image beside them. She was scowling, but following nonetheless.

They all got into a line (or at least something resembling a line) and stood still. There were a few odd looking people, but a majority of them looked just like normal people who had been brought here from the streets above.

"Okay, guys," Mia said. "These are the… Titans, wasn't it? 'Kay, the Titans. They're here to help us and vise versa. So introduce yourselves. Any name switching or 'Mike Rotch'es, and I'm smacking you in the face, got it?" A few groans came from them, but they all nodded.

"Name's Blackout," said one of them. He had dark hair and eyes and a fairly strong build. "I control shadows and can become one myself. I can make them like physical things, not just a lack of light."

"Meghan," said Meghan. "But you can call me Changer. Kinda self-explanatory."

"Ivory Overlord," said the next boy in the row. "I control piano keys."

"Plaster. Guess."

"Sliver," said a girl with bright, silver eyes. "Can become a wolf and a human-wolf hybrid."

"Rayne," said a girl with light blue hair. "I can be a cat and control the elements."

"Tigress," said a girl with orange hair and black eyes. She didn't say anything else, but it was easy to guess what her power was.

"Hunter," said a girl that looked extremely like a werewolf. Again, it was easy to guess what her power was.

"Magico," Magico said. _"Puedo hacer a personas de ilusiones y marca ven y se sienten lo que yo los puedo a."_

"_Ingles, por favor, Magico,"_ Mia said. "We-o no-o _comprede_-o."

Magico rolled his eyes ("He hates it when we speak Spanish-o like that," Mia explained.), and said, "I can make illusions and make people see and feel what I want them to."

Next was Fang, but he merely grunted. The team simply decided to pass him and go on to the next person.

"You already know my name," Ghost Image said, "and, if I know my team, they've already told you all about my powers and probably some of my background." She quickly added, "Thanks, guys," somewhat coldly.

"Mint," said a girl with light green hair. "Mind reading, teleportation, flight, all that good stuff."

"And I'm Mike. Mike Rotch!" Mia said, smiling.

"Hey, why do you get to do it?" Plaster asked. "I've been wanting to do that for so long!"

"I'm the leader, I can do anything!" Mia said. "Get over it, suckuhs!"

"Please, tell me who this Mike Rotch is," Starfire said. "Why are we talking of Mike Rotch? Who is Mike Rotch?" The whole room burst into laughter.

"Raven, it's your turn," Robin whispered to her. "I already explained Shirley Gay to her, thanks to Beast Boy." Raven rolled her eyes.

**Elsewhere…**

The door flew open, a man bursting through it. He looked frightened, yet excited at the same time. He ran down the hall way, panting from his long journey. They had lost the girl, but they had also made a discovery. He hoped beyond all hope that what they had found would make up for his mistake. If it didn't, his fellow police officers would never be able to ask him what their Master thought.

He got to the end of the hall and opened the door. Inside, his master sat, almost as if waiting for him to tell the news. He looked up, his face empty of emotion. The messenger stood up straight and tried to regain his composure, but he knew that it was already too late to do so; there he was, sweating and panting. Nothing could get his composure back now. So he just continued.

"Sir," he said. "I… I'm sorry, but we lost the girl, sir."

His master sat up straighter. His face was mostly covered in shadow, but he could still sense him glaring at him through the darkness. He knew that he was waiting to hear more.

"But we discovered something," he added quickly, sensing the extreme danger in the air. "Four teenagers discovered us and attacked. They were diffs—except for one, I think, one used explosives. But they fought against us. But they looked familiar from somewhere. We did some research and found out they're a well known group." He paused. "Well… _were_ a well known group. They're the Teen Titans."

"_The_ Teen Titans?" his Master asked. "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm certain," he said, but inside he was fearing what would happen if he turned out to be wrong. "We found very old newspaper clippings, and they were filled with stories and photos. They've come from the past."

His master nodded. "Thank you, but I had already known this."

"Wh-what?" he asked, fearful. "But how?" He immediately regretted asking about his intelligences.

"I told Shift to bring them here," his master answered. "They are looking for their missing teammate.

"So, you lost the girl, did you?"

He cringed. He wasn't getting out of this one, and he knew it.

**End of chapter**

**-reads over your shoulder- Whoa… dude… **

… **Wait. Who is Mike Rotch? –suddenly gets it- O.O Oh.**

lol!!! So much fun!!!!!!!

**Shirley Gay? –gets that too- O.O!!! Oh, dude that sucks.**

Hee, hee!

Okay, now let's do the disclaimer! Let's give Ghost Image the honors!

Ghost Image: Titans belong to Warner Brothers. Mia and Fang belong to whats-her-face and Magico and me unfortunatly belong to the other whats-her-face, and everyone else belongs to whoever they belong to. I hate you all.

**Mia: GI Jane! That's not how you do those!!! Here, do it like this:**

**Blackout: goldmark25**

**Changer (Meghan): tofurlz**

**Hunter: ahilty**

**Rayne: Misty Pool**

**Silver: bugcraft**

**Plaster, Ivory Overlord: Gunshow7**

**Mint: Black Raven 13**

Tigress: Aaaaaaaaah! We lost the author! If this is your fuzzy animal, please claim it! -Tigress growls in background- Er, ummm... if you own Tigress, please tell us who you are... and please also add that I don't feel comfortable with being eaten.

'**Kay, my dad's gonna be waiting outside, (school just got out) so I gotta go. IamtotallyKewlio, out.**

Yeah, and it's me mommy's birthday, so I gotta go too. TeSsA-MaRkOv out!!!!! Also, I know that I didn't go deep into descriptions with the team members, but I promise to later in the story... or at least make ImtK do it.

**Wait, what?**

Bye!

**Hey, SJ--!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Finally, chapter 5! Sorry it took so long to get it up, ppl. It was getting too long, so I lobbed off about half of it for use in chapter 7…**

Yeah, it was getting pretty long... but the chapter's still good.

**Well, you're good!**

Oh!!! How dare y--! ...oh...um...thanks! ...I think...

**So, anywayz, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

_Previously…_

"_So, you lost the girl, did you?"_

_He cringed. He wasn't getting out of this one, and he knew it.

* * *

_

Beast Boy woke up, his mind finally clearing. He realized with a start that he was strapped down to a table, unable to move short of turning his head and twisting his lower body around a bit. Metal straps clasped his wrists, ankles, and even his neck. His chest bore a wider band, hindering his movement further. He began pulling hard at the ties, uncertain of what was going on, but confident he didn't want to stay to find out.

"Hey, calm down!" said a man, John, was it? Beast Boy simply ignored the voice, seeing as he couldn't see the speaker. He tugged harder at the bonds that held him down. Now that there was someone else in the room, he couldn't move to stop them from injuring him, and he didn't like that. The man walked into view, pushing up his wire-rimmed glasses. "You need to calm down, or else I'll have to drug you again. And I'm sure you don't want that." To reiterate his threat, the man held up a needle filled with a strange-looking blue liquid.

"No!" yelped Beast Boy as John drew closer. He moved as far as he could, putting as much distance as was physically possible between him and the needle. Finally, unable to withdraw any further, he turned his head away from the man, squeezing his eyes shut.

"That's better," said John, placing the needle on the counter beside him. Beast Boy relaxed, opening his eyes and looking at the man curiously. "I wouldn't have _actually _given you another dose," he said, flashing Beast Boy a smile, "But I did need you to calm down."

"What's going on?" asked Beast Boy, still uncertain as to whether the man was trustworthy. "Why am I tied down like this?" His eyes followed the man as he walked around him. Though he made no move to so much as touch Beast Boy, the green changeling was still uncomfortable in his current position. John smiled sadly, shaking his head slightly.

"I can't tell you that. But I can let you loose. Do you promise if I do, you won't run?" Beast Boy did his best to nod, but it was hard with the strap around his neck. "I need to hear you say it, or else I'll have to tie you up again right after." He gestured to a pair of handcuffs.

"Alright, I promise," Beast Boy said. No sooner had the words come out of his mouth then the straps released, freeing him from his captivity. He sat up immediately, rubbing his sore wrists and neck.

"C'mon," said John, motioning for him to follow. "I gotta take you inside now."

"Inside? What's that mean?" asked Beast Boy, following nonetheless. John escorted him out the door and down the ramp that led out of the back of the van he had been in and to a rather large building. Once they entered the building, two men walked up to them. One of them, a shorter, Japanese-looking man with messy black hair, addressed John, saying,

"We're having some trouble with Myste. He's at it again." John sighed, and followed the man, leaving Beast Boy to realize the identity of the other man, the one with grey eyes and brown hair. It was Greg. He gulped, wondering what'd happen to him now.

He smiled viciously at Beast Boy. "Shouldn't you be wearing a pair of these?" he asked, holding up a pair of bracelet-looking things.

* * *

Once Raven had explained to Starfire exactly who 'Mike Rotch' was, the Titans introduced themselves. Magico seemed particularly interested in Raven's _ensueña_ (magic), as he called it. None of them seemed too surprised that Robin, a powerless norm, was the leader of four diffs. As soon as everyone had a name to go with the faces that surrounded them, Mia excused herself and Robin to make a plan, leaving the other Titans to mingle with her gang. 

"So," said Mia, looking at Robin, "here's how it normally goes." Kneeling on the floor, she pulled a Swiss army knife from her belt and used its blade to draw in the dirt. "The police go out into the city limits and round up as many diffs as they can catch. From there, they come to this police building, which is actually a jail for diffs. These other two police buildings, which are on different blocks, are the jail for norms who really did something bad (they weren't just born different) and the police station, which is where the main public is told to go to report crimes, diff sightings, yadda yadda. (That's the one that we went underneath) Once a diff is brought here," she circled the 'diff jail,' "the police do some studies, to see what kind of abilities they've got. If they're deemed useful, they're shipped to this half of the building, where they are integrated into the police force," she said, while circling one half of the building.

"If not," she continued, "they get used in experiments, such as testing possibly lethal medicines, or even just seeing how much pain their bodies can take. They're kept in that stage for anywhere from a week to two months, at which time they are taken in, usually in groups of ten, for curing. Curing can happen in any number of ways, anything from a lethal injection to far more painful and gruesome methods (please don't ask)."

She paused to let all that information sink in, then continued. "So, what we do is we go in (We've got a schedule that's always changing so we don't get caught) and break as many of these guys," she circled the van she had drawn headed towards the building, "and these guys," she circled the diff jail area, "out as we can, while avoiding these dudes." She drew an 'X' through the area of the building that the police diffs were kept. "I've never actually talked to the police diffs to know if they've got a choice to help the police or not, but they've tried to kill us on more than one occasion, so that's a good enough reason to stay away from them for me." She looked up at Robin, who, by now, was crouching across from her, studying her map carefully. "Any questions?"

"Where do you think they'll be keeping Beast Boy?" he asked.

"Ah, good question," she said. "Well, this part has already happened," she murmured to herself, tracing the van's path from the city limits to the diff jail. "So, this part is either happening right now or will be happening soon," she prodded the diff jail area where their abilities were tested with her pointer finger. "Which means, he'll likely be in this stage by the day after tomorrow, which is when we leave," she finished, looking back up at Robin. "With any luck, your friend will put up enough of a fight that they won't have any time to start tests on him. Unless…" she muttered, unaware that Robin was still listening. She looked up, realizing she was getting a sharp glare from him.

"Unless what?" he asked urgently.

"Well," she said, scratching the back of her head, "unless the police chief and his boss know that he's from the past. They might know that you're here too, and they may have him under… special care. There's two guys that work at the police station with diffs, doctors, I think, that have sort of a reputation for getting any diff to do anything they want. He may possibly have them taking care of him. If that's true, our rescue mission could be a bit more difficult."

* * *

Beast Boy gave a slight yelp as a band of light formed, connecting the two bracelets on his wrists. He tried to pull them further apart, but discovered that they acted as regular handcuffs; prohibiting any movement that brought his hands any further away from each other than a foot. In fact, every time he tried to pull them apart, the band of light shortened. He had it down to about three inches before Greg gave him a hint. 

"Quit trying to break 'em, moron. You got another centimeter or so before it starts to give you an electric shock. When that happens, you best not look to me to make it stop, 'cause I'll crank it up." Deciding that the man probably knew what he was talking about (and would likely carry out his threat), Beast Boy let his hands hang and quit trying to get loose.

He looked up, realizing he had been following Greg subconsciously. They were now standing in front of a door with the words Simulation Room printed across it.

"What is this supposed to be?" he asked, uncertain as to what to expect. Greg smiled sadistically.

"You'll find out in a minute." Suddenly, the door flew open and Greg shoved him into the darkness. Beast Boy's arms shot out, automatically trying to cushion his fall, but he fell anyway, his arms unable to move far enough apart to stop his descent. He hit the ground hard, an audible groan escaping his lips as a loud crack sounded from his shoulder. After a second or so of having the wind knocked out of him, he climbed to his feet. The band of light connecting his wrists suddenly contracted into nothing, forcing his arms together.

A light above clicked on, illuminating the room. It was nothing too exciting, just four white walls, a white floor and a white ceiling. But what the room lacked in color, it made up for in size. If he had morphed into a T-Rex in the room, he'd still have had a good twenty feet before he could touch the ceiling, and the walls were plenty far apart. Suddenly, a voice sounded from unseen loudspeakers.

"_Testing sequence initiated. Difficulty level: one_."

"That can't be good." Two robot holograms flickered to life. "Oh, well," he said. "They're just holograms. It's not like they can- ahh!" The two of them suddenly fired lasers at him. One of them missed by a foot, the other he barely dodged in time. The blast grazed his shoulder, burning a hole in the spandex and searing his skin. He yelped, his hands attempting to go to his shoulder to ease the pain. However, his wrists were still bound together and unable to move. "How'm I supposed to fight them if I can't use my hands?" he shouted at the room, frustrated.

"Oops," came Greg's voice, vicious sarcasm dripping from the sound. "I guess I forgot to hit the release button." There was a short pause, then the bracelets' magnet-like bond broke, leaving his arms free, but the bracelets in place. Beast Boy, however, had no time to worry about that, seeing as the robots started attacking again. He morphed to a gorilla and attacked them, destroying them like he would a Sladebot. The computerized voice came on again, announcing he had graduated to the next level.

* * *

By now, the green shape shifter had reached level eight, each time waiting to be attacked before attacking, Greg noticed. Aside from that, his fighting was enjoyable to watch. He was well in-tune with his powers, able to use them to his advantage in almost any situation the computer could come up with. He seemed to favor fighting forms such as gorilla, tiger and even Tyrannosaurus Rex, but saw nothing wrong with taking a small, weak form, such as a rabbit or mouse in order to slip out of harm's way. Unlike Shift, whose transformations were slow and exact down to almost every detail, the boy's form was fast, taking a split second to go from a boy to a mouse to a T-Rex, though arguably unrealistic. 

Although, if he was going to be added to the police diff force, they'd have to break him of his 'don't attack until attacked' mentality, or else he wouldn't be very useful for hunting down other diffs. Greg scribbled that into his notes before looking back up. He had passed to the next level. "Hmm…" murmured Greg. "This _is _taking rather long…" Grinning somewhat wickedly, he cranked the system up to seventeen. Holographic robots appeared, at least twenty of them, and ganged up on the green diff. They jumped at him, dog piling on top of him, probably crushing him beneath their weight. Greg leaned forward in his chair, interested in the fate of his latest plaything. All of a sudden, a green elephant grew out of nowhere, throwing the robots against the walls and busting them to pieces. It shrank back to the size of a human, leaving no trace as to how the small boy had beaten all the robots in one blow.

"_Training sequence completed_."

* * *

"_Training sequence completed_," sounded the voice. Beast Boy took in a startled breath as the band of light reformed, this time going behind his back to connect his wrists instead of going straight between his wrists. The band began to shorten, pulling his arms behind his back without his consent. He tried to pull them apart, straining against the bracelets' bizarre attraction. His resistance was met with a large jolt of electricity ripping through his body. He gave a cry, standing straight only until the electricity stopped tearing through his body, then collapsing to the ground. The band suddenly contracted completely, bringing his arms together despite his earlier struggles. 

A door opened, allowing Greg to enter. He walked over to Beast Boy and bent down, gripping the handcuffs and pulling upwards. Beast Boy reacted immediately, the pain in his shoulders forcing his body to get off the ground. Greg couldn't help but laugh. He gave him a rough shove once he was on his feet, forcing him to walk forward. He led him through the building, making his way to the holding cells for the diffs that weren't part of the police force.

Suddenly, they stopped. Beast Boy looked up, wondering why. Ahead, two men, one with brown hair and one with dirty blonde, in white coats were straining to get a boy of about thirteen into the hallway. He, too, had the strange bracelet handcuffs on his wrists, holding his arms behind his back. He was shouting at the men, plea for mercy escaping his lips. He had 'tripped' and fallen on the ground and was kicking desperately at the men whenever they reached for him. Gripping Beast Boy tightly by the shoulder, Greg walked over to the scene.

"What's going on over here?" he asked harshly.

"He's scheduled for curing in a half hour, sir," the brown-haired man replied. Handing Beast Boy off to the other man, Greg got down to eye level with the terrified young prisoner.

"Name."

"I-I-I'm N-n-nathaniel, si-sir."

Greg stared coldly, uncaringly, into the terror-widened brown eyes. His gaze overlooked Nathaniel's battered and bruised body, the cuts running down his cheeks and above his eyebrow. He didn't catch the panicked, labored breathing, or the tearstained face of a young boy. He saw, instead, a diff, a freak of nature; something to either be used or disposed of. He turned his head slightly, indicating he was speaking to one of the doctors without breaking eye contact with the boy. "Number?"

The brown-haired man cast a glance at his clipboard. "N045." Greg returned his attention to Nathaniel.

"Power."

"I… uh… I sh-shr-shrink, sir."

"Take him-"

"No!" yelped Nathaniel. All eyes turned to him. "Please…" he whimpered, "I just want it to stop."

"Take him to room 627," said Greg, ignoring the interruption. "And have him cured."

"But, sir, he's supposed to go to room 574 to get-"

"And I just changed his schedule. Is there a problem with that,_ doctor_?" The doctor gulped and hid behind his clipboard.

"No, sir." The blonde man, who currently had Beast Boy by the arm, shoved him back at Greg, then both of them grabbed Nathaniel's arms and hoisted him into an upright position, pulling him along behind them.

"Come on, kid," Greg said to Beast Boy without turning back to face him. "Looks like you get to see your first curing."

* * *

"So, new friend Meghan," said Starfire, stretching out on one of the sofas that was inhabiting the room they were in, "What is it you enjoy doing?" 

"Well," said Meghan, looking down at her from her perch on the armrest, "There's not a whole lot down here to do for fun, but, seeing as I _am_ a shape shifter, I like to go up and visit the norms from time to time."

"Oh!" said Starfire, immediately interested. "Tell me, does your family live nearby?" Meghan gave an uncomfortable laugh and suddenly became very interested in her shoes, which had, Starfire noticed, several duct tape patches on them.

"Yeah, kinda." Starfire, not catching the subtle hint that the subject was off-limits, continued to pry.

"Do they live here as well? Or are they on the surface? Do you visit them often? Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, the 'rents live up there," she said, vaguely gesturing at the ceiling, "but I don't visit."

"Oh…" said Starfire, sounding for a minute like she was going to back off. "Why not?"

Meghan sighed. "'Cause." She briefly looked up at Starfire, who was awaiting her explanation, then studied her shoes again. "I dunno your story, but mine's something like this: I got born with my powers, but my mom and dad didn't find out for a while. Once they did, they decided to keep me and my abilities a secret from everyone, so they wouldn't have to be embarrassed because of what I could do.

"Even though no one but us knew about it, they still treated me, well, like a freak. Nothing I ever did was good enough for them. I ran away when I turned fourteen, and earned my nickname, Changer (Mia wants all of us to call each other by our nicknames, 'cause if any of us ever get caught, the police can find us out by our real names) 'cause I used my power in a fight.

"After about three months, the police caught me. I got taken back to the police station, and they were about to start some tests when Mia and the gang showed up. I'm not sure how it happened, but I became one of the comic relief kids. So, that's my story. My advice: Don't go around asking the others about their backgrounds. It's sort of a touchy subject." Starfire nodded, taking in the tidbit on the strange new culture they had landed in.

* * *

"Cyborg, huh?" asked the boy with the shaggy dark brown hair and hazel eyes. 

"Yep," responded Cyborg. "And you're Plaster?"

"T's my name. But," he said, raising his eyebrow, "I've got lotsa aliases."

"Like what?" asked Cyborg, glad to have something to talk about with this kid.

"The hazel-eyed menace. Maverick from the deep. Uh… hang on, I got more…" The boy fell silent for a moment, trying to think of another name. "That's all I remember for now."

"So…" said Cyborg, trying to think of something to talk about, "you never actually said what you can do."

"Oh. I control, big surprise here, plaster. Well, not just plaster, concrete and stuff like that, too. But," he said, a mischievous glint in his eye, "that's not all."

"Well," said Cyborg, after a short silence. "What else can you do?" Plaster grinned.

"Thought you'd never ask! Hit me." Cyborg looked at him in disbelief. "No, seriously. Hit me." Shrugging, Cyborg reached over and backhanded Plaster lightly. He scoffed. "You can hit harder than that." This time, Cyborg hit him hard. Plaster gripped his arm in the place he had been hit tightly. "Ah!" he yelped. "Not that hard!" Suddenly, a weird-looking liquid started seeping out from beneath his fingers. He and Cyborg looked at it with surprise. He gingerly removed his hand from his arm to discover that his arm was dissolving! "What did you do that for!" he cried. "My arm's _melting_!" As though to reiterate his statement, his arm suddenly fell to the floor and was reduced to a puddle of something unpleasant looking.

Cyborg, whose jaw had about joined Plaster's arm on the floor, was speechless. "I… I… I-"

"I so fooled you!" laughed Plaster. The puddle of his arm on the floor suddenly reshaped itself into a tall, thin pillar of plaster that reconnected to the stump of an arm that Plaster still had, then reshaped again, this time into an arm-shaped blob that slowly became the same size and color of his other arm. He laughed again, shaking his head in disbelief. "You shoulda seen the look on your face!" he exclaimed, doing his best to imitate it.

Cyborg, however, was not so cheerful. "Why did you pull that!" he shouted. "I just about had a heart attack!"

"Sorry," grinned Plaster. "I was bored."

* * *

lol!! I love that part!!! 

**Yeah, I had fun writing it. You gonna do the disclaimer or should I?**

Hmmm... I say that we should have Plaster do the honors!

**Okay, that works.**

**Plaster: Well, these two own nothin', an' I'm sure they know it.**

**I belong to Gunshow7, Meghan belongs to tofurlz, Mia belongs to ImTK, Magico belongs to SJB, Greg and John belong to ImTK, and Nathaniel belongs to ImTK as well.**

Magico: And the Teen Titans belong to Warner Brothers, no matter how much ImTK and SJB wish that they were theirs.

**ImTK and SJB: Yeah...**

**So, anyways, drop us a review or whatever, 'kay?**

Yeeeaaah! Please?


	6. Chapter 6

**I am so, so sorry about the long update time. I really meant to get this up sooner, but I was having some trouble with the ending. You'll see why when you get there. :)**

Yeah... from what I've heard, it's gonna be sad...

**It is indeed. Well, if you're SJB, that is. But she's sad enough as it is. (So, so sad)**

Heeeeeeyyy!! ...Did you just insult me?

**No! ... Well, sorta.**

T.T

**

* * *

**

_Previously…_

"_Come on, kid," Greg said to Beast Boy without turning back to face him. "Looks like you get to see your first curing."

* * *

_

Nathaniel did his best not to whimper as the two doctors led him down the hallway. There was no way his mistake was going to go unpunished. He had acted up, attacking them, and in front of Greg! The man was infamous for his punishments. He could feel terror building up with every step he took, the fear of what was coming overwhelming. They led him through the door, into a room that was disgustingly clean. Everything was white or chrome, the colors (or lack thereof) hurting his eyes. His breathing quickened as he recognized the setup of the room, snatches of memories of the past month flashing through his mind.

_A scream pierced the air. It took him a second him to realize the voice was his own. It hurt so much…_

The doctors practically dragged him to the table in the center of the room, seeing as his legs had stopped moving. Whether it was a pathetic attempt to postpone his fate or something else entirely, it was futile. The brunette, who was stronger than the blonde man, picked the poor boy up and laid him down on the table.

_He tried to stop them, but they still managed to get him down on the table. The straps slipped in place around his wrists and ankles, holding his body in place. Then the tests began…_

When they attempted to strap him down, he finally started to realize what was happening. He fought against them, kicking and squirming and jerking about, trying to break free. It took a minute to get his left arm down, which was quickly followed by his right one, which squashed any hope of getting away. After that, it took a few seconds to finish tying him down.

_He was trapped… the pain… It hurt so bad… He squirmed, his body doing the best it could to get away from the blade, but it was no use. He was strapped down, unable to move short of writhing in pain.

* * *

_

"So, what is curing?" Beast Boy finally asked. The doctors had gone ahead to prepare Nathaniel for curing, whatever it was. Greg had called another person, the Japanese man from before, whose name was Ronin, to 'get him ready to watch a curing.'

"You'll see," was the only response Ronin gave him. He glanced over at the strange-looking diff. The boy was looking around at the room, observing his surroundings. Ronin looked around too, very quickly. He and the little green diff were in a room that resembled the check-up rooms at the doctor's office across town, a world away from the outskirts of the city where the diffs lived. The room was small, white and square. The furniture consisted of a counter with a sink, a chair, a table/bed for the person who was being examined to sit/lay on, and a cupboard that held needles and the components of a sedative, plus several vials of healer's blood, the cure-all medicine. Ronin glanced at his clipboard. 'Won't attack unless attacked,' it said in Greg's chicken scratch handwriting, 'Could mean a "heroic" disposition. If at any point in the future is exposed to other diffs in pain, should be constrained unless otherwise noted.'

Ronin shrugged. His job was simple: get the green changeling outfitted with more restraints like the bracelet handcuffs. He would need a belt and collar, as well as pair of anklets. The anklets wouldn't be needed right away, but a pair would be made, just in case. However, the belt and collar were ready-made, and, as soon as they were on a diff, would shrink or stretch to fit them snugly. While the mechanics of the restraint systems were rather complex, they worked with the push of a button. The gist of how they worked involved a force something like that of a magnet, attaching together with an unbreakable bond. Most of the rooms in the building had at least one wall that the system could attach itself to, making it quite handy for diffs that were more rowdy or attempted to escape.

Bending down, Ronin took a belt out of the cupboard under the counter. He tossed it at the boy, saying "Put it on." Not bothering to make sure the diff did as he was told, Ronin knelt on the ground, rifling through the cupboard, looking for a collar. While the boy was busy being surprised as the belt tightened around his waist, Ronin walked up behind him and slipped the collar around his neck, not even bothering to fasten it. Within a split second, the boy's hands were at his neck, attempting to pry the collar away even as it tightened around his neck, fastening itself and then shrinking as the belt had.

Beast Boy turned to face the man, anger overtaking him. See, he had this thing about collars; treat him like an animal, and he'd act like one. He heard a loud growl emitting from his throat. But, Ronin didn't seem too worried. Smirking, he pressed a button on his wristwatch, causing the bracelets on Beast Boy's wrists to begin attracting to the belt he now wore. "What the-?" he asked, surprised. Ronin just smiled and turned to the wall, pressing a spot on it. A panel slid out of the way, revealing a computer monitor. Ronin pressed a few buttons and Greg's face appeared.

"He's ready," said Ronin.

"_Good,_" came Greg's voice from the monitor. "_The curing will start soon. Take him to room 627. I'm here already._" Ronin nodded and the screen went blank. He turned and grabbed Beast Boy's arm, pulling him along.

* * *

Beast Boy wasn't too pleased as he was led down the hallway, particularly because he couldn't do anything about it. As far as he could tell, the bracelets, belt and (grr…) collar he was wearing prevented him from using his powers, at least through their ability to give him an electric shock whenever he tried anything. 

"Through here," said Ronin, indicating a door with the number 627 on a plaque next to it. "You get to see a curing now." He walked into the room, pulling Beast Boy in after him.

Greg looked up as Ronin entered, with the green prisoner in tow. He smiled as he saw the boy was wearing a collar and not looking too happy about it. He had figured as much. The boy was brought near him, and then Ronin dismissed himself, unwilling to stay too long.

Beast Boy looked across the room from his new position by Greg. Everything was either white or chrome, and extremely shiny. His eyes wandered the room, noting the different vials and tubes, tables and microscopes, and cupboards filled with unknown substances. In the middle of the room, a boy was strapped to a table. Upon further inspection, Beast Boy recognized him as Nathaniel, the boy from the hallway. He could see the boy's mouth moving, his eyes closed tightly, but heard no words. For the first time, he noticed that there was a wall of glass or maybe plastic separating them. It was several inches thick, making it soundproof and, he guessed, power proof.

The two men in the closed off area with Nathaniel, the blonde man and the brown-haired man from the hallway, suddenly turned to the boy, surgical knives in hand.

"What're they doing?" asked Beast Boy, fearing the answer.

"Ssh," said Greg. "You'll see."

* * *

Nathaniel looked up at the men, who were standing over him with knives. He cringed before they even made contact. He felt the cold, horrifyingly dull metal press against his now bare chest and closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to begin. But it never came. His eyes opened as he realized that someone had come into the room. Not the soundproofed part he was trapped in, but the outer room. He looked at the man, who was wearing a white lab coat and wire-rimmed glasses. John! John was as famous for his kindness as Greg was infamous for his punishments. Nathaniel lifted his head, desperately trying to hear what was going on, or at least lip-read to find out. He also saw the green boy from the hallway, though he was wearing a belt and collar now. The boy was looking back and forth between Greg and John, who appeared to be arguing. Nathaniel caught the boy's eye, and mouthed the word 'what'. The boy shrugged in response. 

Beast Boy shrugged, unable to explain to the boy what the two were arguing about. The word curing popped up several times, though Beast Boy didn't have a frame of reference to know what they were talking about. The gist of it was that John wanted the previous schedule followed, and was extremely angry with Greg, both for changing Nathaniel's schedule and for having Beast Boy present.

"Well, I changed his schedule," stated Greg, doing his best to look uncaring.

"I have the support of the higher uppers. They are adamant that agendas are followed, despite your sadistic personality. Now have him," John pointed at Nathaniel, "brought to room 574, or I'll do it myself." Greg didn't look too happy about it, but he signed to the men who opened the door to the inner room.

"There's been a change of plans," he grumbled. "Bring him to room 574."

"But you said-"

"Forget what I said," he snapped, cutting the man off, "just do it." The blonde man shrugged and closed the door back up, returning to the table and undoing Nathaniel's bonds. He was helped off the table and out of the room. John, too, exited, shaking his head. Still muttering darkly under his breath, Greg grabbed Beast Boy by the elbow and jerked him along, pulling him out of the room as well.

* * *

Nathaniel still didn't know what was going on, but he was sure that wherever he was going was better than the operation table that he had come from. He looked around the room he had been led to, his eyes taking in the unknown sights. Instead of the operating table with straps to hold him down, the room held several chairs. It resembled a room in the doctor's office, truthfully. For some reason, Nathaniel felt safe in this room. 

"Sit down," said the blonde man, named Robert, indicating one of the chairs. He turned his back to Nathaniel, preparing a needle. Nathaniel did as he was told, excited for the first time in a while. Perhaps he was going to get an injection of healer's blood, something to stop the pain. When the man turned around, there was a liquid in the needle, alright, but it wasn't one he recognized. It wasn't red, so it wasn't healer's blood, but it wasn't blue or clear, either, so it wasn't a sedative. Instead, it was a sickly green-looking liquid, an unknown substance.

Nonetheless, Nathaniel held still as the brown-haired man pressed the cold cotton swab against his arm, rubbing it to disinfect the area. The needle was slid under his skin; he felt a pinch as the liquid was injected into his shoulder, then it began to get cold. The icy feeling spread from his shoulder across his body, numbing his mind in a matter of seconds. He started coughing uncontrollably, shivering as well. Suddenly, his eyes closed and he slumped back against the chair, no longer moving.

Beast Boy, **who** had been watching the scene with Greg via a television screen, suddenly felt sick, the realization of what he had just seen hitting him, reiterated as the blonde man checked the boy's pulse and nodded. "None," his mouth said on the soundless monitor.

"They… killed him…" he breathed, unable to believe it.

"_That_ was a curing," said Greg, a satisfied smile on his face. "And if you don't toe the line, the same will happen to you."

* * *

**Ta-da! Oh, BTW, anyone wanting to kill me for the death of Nathaniel, feel free. I WROTE THIS CHAPTER, NOT SJB!!!! She's mad at me for it, too. :)**

GAAAAAAHHHH!!!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. I used to own Nathaniel, but he's dead now. :)**

**Character Usage: No body got used in this chapter. It was sort of just me showing you the curing process. **

T.T The curing process sux! NATHANIEL!!!!!!!!!


	7. Chapter 7

It's too late to 'pologii-iize. It's too laaaaaaaate! It's too late to 'pologii-iiiiize. It's too laaaaa--! –gets hit in the head with a blunt object- Owwie! I'm sorry! I love that song!!!!

**Stop singing and start writing, SJB!**

* * *

A boy ran down the alley, holding several different items in his arms. He burst into an open area, looking for a place to conceal himself. As he sprinted, people jumped out of his way, shocked by the sudden activity in the streets. Even more of an uproar occurred as he police followed after the boy, yelling threats towards him. Hearing the threats coming closer and closer to him, he continued to run wildly, knowing that any breaks would mean his life. He looked around and, about six blocks away, saw an abandoned alley. He ran faster than before, his legs crying in agony, begging him to stop. He ignored this as best as he could as he entered the alley. He closed his eyes, focusing, and then jumped into the closest alley way at his side. The police ran past it, still in hot pursuit thinking that they had just merely lost sight of him and that he would be just a little further down the road. There was just one thing that they had missed about this boy; one little thing that changed everything about the chase. 

He could make himself invisible.

The boy sat up, sweat trailing down his face. As he let himself turn visible again, he gasped for as much air as he could take in one breath. He pushed his bright red hair out of his face as he looked at the things that he had brought with him in his arms that were now residing on the ground. Looking over the objects, he mentally checked off what he had taken with him. A loaf of bread: here. Canned food: one, two three, four, all here. He scowled at himself as he realized that he had forgotten to grab a can opener along with the five cans. It would have to wait. Returning back to his check list, he looked at the next few items. Bandages and gauze: accounted for. A sweatshirt: a small tear was on the left arm now, but besides that, it was in good condition. He nodded to himself and packed the objects into a sack that he had also brought with him. He sat back and sighed. So far, all was going good.

Suddenly, there was shuffling heard. He jumped a little and looked around the area to see who or what was there. At the end of the alley was a figure of a person. They were on the ground, slowly awaking from a slumber. The boy pushed himself away from the wall to his knees and slowly crawled toward the person. At a closer look, he was able to tell that the person was a girl. She wore a dirty and ragged dark brown sweatshirt and a pair of frayed jeans. He then looked at her features. She looked exhausted, like she had run several miles. Her black hair was in her pale face, her tiredness taking away the care of brushing it away. However, even though she and her clothing were in a horrible state, she was very beautiful. She stirred a little, and then opened her eyes, revealing bright blue irises. In an instant, her blue eyes met the dark grayish-blue of the boy's. She gasped and quickly sat up. She stared at him, as if waiting for him to attack, but that moment never came. She steadied her breathing, looking over the boy, trying to decide whether he was or was not a threat. Finally, she spoke.

"Who are you?" The boy remained quiet. After a few seconds, he shook his head. The girl looked at him, confused. "Do you not have a name?" He shook his head. He then pointed at his throat. The girl paused. "I don't understand," she said. The boy pointed at his throat again and shook his head. The girl sighed in confused frustration. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're trying to say." The boy frowned. He bit his lip in thought. After a few seconds, he grabbed the front collar of his sweatshirt and pulled it down. He then pointed at his throat. "What is it?" she asked. He motioned for her to come closer. She looked cautiously at him, but, seeing no danger in doing so, came closer to him. The boy kept pointing towards his throat. She looked at where he was pointing, but saw no importance of it. She looked up at his face. "I don't—" The boy suddenly made slashing movements in front of his throat. She looked closer and finally saw what the boy had been trying to point out: there were scars on his throat. Then the girl understood. "Some one tried to kill you… they slit your throat… how did you live?" The boy shrugged, clearly stating 'I don't have any idea.' "So… they didn't kill you, but they… cut your vocal cords?" The boy nodded. "So… you're mute?" He nodded solemnly.

Suddenly, the boy made a scribbling motion with his finger on his opposite palm. He then pointed at her and made the scribbling movements on his hand again. "A pencil?" she asked. In response, the boy nodded. "No, I don't." The boy frowned. He stayed still for a moment, but then put a finger in the air. He moved it through the air, making a shape. He looked at her to see if she understood. She, however, gave him a puzzled look. He did the movement again, and this time saw what he was doing. He had made the letter P in the air. She nodded to show that she understood. The boy smiled. He then did other letters. P. H. A. N. T. O. M. As he did the last letter, he pointed to himself. The girl nodded to show that she understood.

"Phantom?" The boy nodded, smiling broadly. He then pointed to her. "My name?" she asked. Phantom nodded. "Okay. My name's… my name's Plague."

Phantom tilted his head, obviously asking, 'Why's your name Plague?'

"I… I spread illnesses by touch," Plague explained. "When I was born, the doctors said that my DNA was a little different from normal DNA. It wasn't life-threatening and it wasn't the kind that the majority of diff's get, so I was safe. But when I was about ten, I got pneumonia. I did get better, but I was never the same. Things and people kept on changing all around me. People got sick around me, plants wilted. Then my parents…" She stopped. Tears ran down her face. Phantom was able to tell what it was that she was to say next. He went to touch her shoulder, to comfort her, but stopped midway. He looked at her, waiting for confirmation of it being okay. Plague looked at his hand. "You can touch my clothing, but if you touch my skin, you'll immediately start suffering from an illness."

Phantom nodded to show that he understood. He put his hand on her shoulder and Plague instantly felt comfort flow through her. It felt like nothing else mattered and that all of the problems in her life, in the very world itself, were solved, gone, never coming back. She couldn't find a word to describe how she truly felt, but she did know one thing for sure.

She wasn't alone anymore.

* * *

Mia, now that she had given the game plan to Robin, had now come out to explain what they were going to do with her team and the rest of the Titans that were currently present. By now, Mia had given the plan and was stating things to expect and to watch out for. 

"If they find you and try to take you, fight back with all you've got," Mia said. "Don't go easy on them all because they're norms. They will kill you if they can, so don't give them the chance."

"But what will happen if we do get captured?" Starfire asked curiously.

"They'll test you, then torture you, then kill you. It's a little different in Robin's case. He doesn't have any powers, so they'd probably just kill him… well, no, they'd definitely torture him first and then kill him. Either way, it's not pretty, and you do not want to go through it."

Starfire nodded quietly, obviously a little shocked with the cruelty of the plan. The other Titans also were able to tell that she was worried for Robin's safety rather than her own. "Please continue," she said.

"Also, if they try to take us down, help one another! Don't just ignore everyone else and fight for yourself, cuz if you do and I find out that you could've saved one of your friends, I will… well imagine something painful, and that's what ya got. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Good.

"And it's not just going to be a danger of norms, we might have to fight diffs too. What I said for the norms goes the same for the diffs working for the police: They. Will. _Kill_. You! Fight back with all you've got! Cuz if you get killed, I'm gonna kill you more!

"And one more thing: when leaving, _stay hidden_! If someone sees us, our HQ is blown! And whoever blows it gets their butt kicked Chuck Norris style and has to find a new hideout. Got it?"

"No wonder she's the leader," Cyborg whispered to Robin. "She's actually kind of scary when she wants to—"

"Hey, Cyborg," Mia said, "if you don't stop talking, I will smack your face off, and don't you dare think that I'm kidding!"

"Believe me, she's serious," Plaster murmured. "I pulled the whole "My arm's melting" gig on her. Took me an hour to get all of my face off of the wall."

"And you still make fun of her?" Cyborg whispered back.

"Idiot," Ghost Image said as Raven simultaneously said, "Moron."

"And last, but not least, don't smoke marijuana, don't do drugs, and don't talk to police peoples. Got it?" Most people laughed. Ghost Image rolled her eyes, murmuring something under her breath. "We're leaving tomorrow, so make any preparations that you need."

The room burst into noise as everyone started conversations. Magico went back to the sofa and sat down. Several people filed into a hall, their voices fading after a few moments. Starfire looked around, wondering where she and the rest of her present team would go. Mia saw her confusion and said, "Meghan, we've got an extra room, right?"

"Yeah, I think so," Meghan answered. "C'mon, it's in here," she continued as she walked into the hallway that the others and walked through before. The Titans followed her, looking around. There were a few doors to their sides, a hand-written name tag on all of them. They passed Meghan's room, along with Plaster's, Blackout's, Magico's and Ghost Image's. Finally, they came to an unmarked door. However, Meghan simply ignored it.

"Friend Meghan," Starfire said, "that room belongs to no one, correct?"

"Yeah, but G.I. tells us to never go in there," Meghan said. "She said that she felt a spirit there. She said we can go in there if we want, but we won't come back out."

"Yeah, right," Cyborg said. "How can a spirit hurt you? It's just a dead person! Ohhhh, I'm so scared!"

"Don't believe me, do you?" Cyborg flinched. It was Ghost Image. He slowly turned to see the girl, her purple eyes glaring at him. "You can go in there, see it for yourself. We just might be able to get your body out. But your soul's screwed." Her voice was extremely cold, able to make anyone feel fear. "Some spirits, like the one in there, are far more cruel than anyone who has ever lived on this earth. More evil than Adolf Hitler, worse than Vlad Tepes, more terrifying Genghis Khan. They will take your soul and leave you as a shell. You'll still be alive, but you won't be able to feel, to think, or anything. You'll just exist." She stopped talking and instead kept cold, hard eye contact.

"Oh, c'mon, Ghost Image, it hasn't even been a day, and you're already giving them the evil eye?" Ghost Image turned her head to look at Mia. Mia laughed slightly. "Y'know that doesn't work on me, right?"

Ghost Image gave a sigh. She then turned back to Cyborg. "Just a little advice for you: if you're going to insult a person, don't do it only a few doors down from them in a loud voice. Surprisingly enough, they'll be able to hear you." With that, she turned on her heel and entered her room.

Everyone stayed quiet for a few moments. Finally, Cyborg broke the silence by saying:

"She scares the freaking crap outta me."

"You'll get used to her," Mia said. "The death threats and evil looks and disgusted murmuring are her own way of saying, "I love you." She's a little kitten inside! Sure, the kitten wants to kill everything around it and leave bloody remains and hiss at any creature that comes near, but still a cute, little, furry kitten."

"I am sure that Friend Mia is correct," Starfire said. "She seems kind."

"Whatever you say," Cyborg said. "Furry kitten or not, she's freakin' creepy."

* * *

A few hours had passed since Plague and Phantom had met. They were still in the alley having had no one come by for the whole time they'd been there. They had "discussed" for a while, Phantom having done his best to communicate and give some information about himself. They were now quiet as the area around them slid into darkness. They were both feeling nervous, not knowing whether they were alone or not, left to only hope that they were away from any one who wanted to harm them. 

Phantom listened closely to the sounds around them. As time passed by, her heard Plague's breath get slower and deeper, signaling that she had now fallen asleep. He looked around, trying to see if there was an object he could use if he had to defend himself and Plague. At the very entrance of the alley way, there was a glass bottle. Phantom crawled over to it silently and picked it up. He looked around to see if there was anyone around and, seeing that the area was secure, smashed the bottle. He immediately heard Plague stir.

"Who's there?" she whispered as Phantom heard her clamber up. Phantom rushed over to her to show himself. He saw Plague squint at him, and then she sat back down. "What was--?" she was asking, but she then saw the remnants of the glass bottle, now a cacophony of sharp, deadly points. Phantom sat down across from her and they went back into silence.

That's when they heard it.

Footsteps were coming towards them. Plague looked towards the entrance, then to Phantom. He pointed to the end of the alley and stood up. Plague understood and went to a corner of the alley, the darkness consuming her. Phantom went to the end of the sideway and crouched down. He laid the bottle on its side and made himself disappear, making it look like the bottle was just lying there.

The footsteps came nearer and nearer until the person was finally standing in front of Phantom. Because it was dark, he couldn't make out many features of the person. He was able to tell that the person was a girl. She had defined muscles, showing that she was tough. Suddenly, he saw the girl smirk. "Ahh, I see. An invisible." Phantom looked up at her, but did nothing else. He was unable to do anything else because a foot rammed into his chin. He fell backward, turning visible once again. His tongue was bleeding now, filling his mouth with the taste of copper. A foot was placed on his chest now. He looked up and saw the girl again, now smirking down at him.

"Hello. Taylor Z. Dent, isn't it? You're coming with me."

* * *

**Jeez, SJB. We haven't updated in YEARS!!!!! ...Or a few weeks, w'ever.**

Yeah... oopsies. Well, it's done now! Yaaaay!

**It's been done for a while, SJB. -.-;**

Don't tell them that! They'll hurt us cuz we haven't updated, especially if they know that we've had it in documents for a long... time... DANG IT!

**:P Anyways, the story line is all we own. Phantasm is... Rabula Tasa's??? I think that's right.. Meghan is Tofurlz's and Phantom and Plague are SJB's and Teen Titans are... uh... not mine? Although my birthday's on Sunday, if you need to get me somthing still -gets backhanded by SJB- OH! and Chuck Norris belongs to no one! Y'all belong to Chuck Norris!!!**

Mwa ha ha! Oh, and Mia belongs to ImtK, Ghost Image belongs to me and Plaster belongs to Gunshow7. Is that it?

**Yep. Bye, y'all!**

**IamtotallyKewlio, out.**

Byyyyeeee! Btw, I still like that song... -.-


	8. Chapter 8

Hey!! We finally got the chapter done!!

**Yeah! I'm over at SJB's, standing over her with a knife!! ... er, with some candy! Right SJB?**

Y-yeah, whatever you saydon'tkillme!!

**:P Fine. See y'all at the end of the chapter.**

Yeah, hope you like it! I wrote it!! Yay!

* * *

Beast Boy sat in the room he had been led to by the scientists. Like all of the other rooms he had previously seen, his "bed room" was stainless white and too clean to be healthy. He was sitting on a bed that was prison-worthy. It had very little mattress and was mostly metal, proving to be very uncomfortable. However, at this point in time, Beast Boy didn't care whether he'd get a good night's sleep or not. He was going through the scene he had just witnessed only minutes before in his mind. Nathaniel hadn't done anything; he had been innocent, yet these people had taken him and… How could they have done that? He could have just been contained easily, but they didn't do it. They _killed_ him! How could someone do that? He was basically defenseless! He had no chance, and they knew it, and they just threw him aside like he was a wrapper that no longer had any value, like a piece of garbage.

Beast Boy leaned his back against the cold wall behind him, hundreds of thoughts running through his mind. How many people had they done this to? His stomach churned at the thought of it. Would he suffer the same fate or, if possible, something worse? Suddenly, another thought came to mind: were the other Titans here? His heart started racing. Were they alive, or had they… Beast Boy closed his eyes tightly, trying to take his mind away from the possibility of his friends being... He knew they weren't; they couldn't be. However, no matter how much he reassured himself, he saw his friends with the same terrified look on their face as Nathaniel, coughing nonstop until they just… stopped. His head felt like it was under extreme pressure and he mentally saw his friends lying eerily still, not breathing, doing nothing. He clenched his fists, trying to focus on something else, but it was now impossible. His muscles loosened as he gave up and buried his face in his hands.

He needed out.

* * *

"Hello. Taylor Z. Dent, isn't it? You're coming with me."

Phantom, not knowing what else to do, threw the broken bottle at the girl's face, hoping that he'd be able to get away. But to his great shock, the girl's hand quickly went to the flyaway bottle, her hand appearing as only a blur. Her fingers curled around the neck of the bottle, stopping it as if they had only been playing a game of catch.

"Not very smart are you?" the girl asked. Phantom suddenly noticed that her voice had barely any emotion expressed in it. It was blank, empty. She knelt down, her foot still firmly placed on his chest. Now that the girl's face was closer, Phantom could make out some of her features. She had short, rigid black hair and dark eyes. She was black and wore dark clothes, making her barely visible in the shrouded alleyway. Suddenly, before he could take in any more attributes of the girl, the jagged edges of the glass bottle were inches from his face. "I could kill you right now, right in this alley. Bring your body in and show that you're dead. It would be so easy, you know. Just a few stabs with this, and you'd never see daylight again. And no one would hear you scream… oh, that's right," she said, grazing his throat with the bottle, "we already took care of that, didn't we?"

Everything went in fast-forward mode: before he knew what he was doing, Phantom's fist was heading towards the girls face. The next moment, his whole arm was pinned to the ground and then a horrible burning pain was in his chest. He looked down and saw that the girl had moved her foot down just far enough so there was room for the bottle, now planted in his chest. He looked up at the girl who was now staring at him, smirking slightly.

"Now, listen to me, _Taylor_," she said, pushing the bottle even farther into his flesh. Phantom's ears were ringing from pain. "You will do _everything _I say. If you do, I won't hurt you much. But if you disobey me…" She now twisted the bottle, pulling and cutting his skin. Phantom wanted to yell, wanted to tell her to stop, but could do nothing but lay there in agony. "The police told me not to kill you, so I'm limited to what I can do to you. However, they said nothing about breaking bones or torture. And I don't care how disfigured a limb gets or how much blood gets on my clothing. I can do almost anything I want to do to you, so you'd best do everything I tell you, got it, Dent?" With that, she tore the bottle out of his chest and threw it to the side. She grabbed him by the collar and lifted him into a sitting position. "Now get up, or it's your arm next."

Phantom tried to resist the girl's attempts. No way was he going to go with her without a fight. He tried his best to pull himself out of her grasp, but his efforts did nothing. With every moment of his resisting, she got more violent. By now, the front of his sweat shirt was drenched in his own blood, the pain in his chest radiating all over his body, making his head spin. He was getting weaker every second, but he stayed determined. He now knew that it this was a matter of life or death.

Suddenly, he heard the distinct sound of something being pulled out of a sheath. He saw a flash, but felt no pain. He was bewildered knowing that she must have stabbed him, yet there was no pain. Suddenly, he realized that there was pressure on his right shoulder. Phantom turned his head slightly to see, out of the corner of his eye, a sharp blade resting on his shoulder threateningly.

"I know the structure of the body, Taylor," she said darkly. "I know just what movements to perform to sever your arm. I don't have to do it quick either. I can cut each nerve, one by one. I don't have to make it a clean cut either. There are so many things that I could do to you, so many options." By now, Phantom was paralyzed. He stared at the girl, unable to hide the fear in his eyes. She was utterly insane! She could care less about what condition he was in when they arrived to their destination. He was just another victim to toy with, a rag doll with which you could to do whatever you wanted. "Get up or I will personally kill you when they're done with you."

Phantom didn't move. He was terrified. He knew what was going to happen to him now: he was going to be brought to scientists. They were going to run tests on him and be just about as caring as serial killers. Then, when they were done with him, he was going to be killed. Whether he cooperated with them or not, he was going to be killed.

"Taylor. Zacharias. Dent," the girl said, leaving long pauses after each word. Her eyes were cold, not giving away any hint of emotion. "You've decided your fate yourself. I hope that you're left handed." She lifted up the knife. Phantom looked up at it and closed his eyes the moment he saw it making its fast descent. His arm already hurt, his brain sending it warning that it was going to be in extreme pain. But that pain never came. However, the sound of a blunt object hitting flesh did. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the girl supporting herself on the wall, holding her face. Suddenly, Phantom saw a pale hand fly in front of his eyes, grabbing the blade the girl had dropped. His eyes moved up the arm until they met the face of Plague. Her face was contorted with anger as she stood back up straight.

"Are you okay, Phantom?" she asked. Phantom, in return, looked down at his blood-soaked chest and then back up at her, clearly saying, "What do ya think?"

"Sorry, right now was the perfect time," Plague said. "Plus, she scares me." Plague now turned away to face Phantom's attacker. Her nose was clearly broken, blood pouring from her nostrils. She wiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand and then looked up and down Plague.

"I see," she said, her speech impaired by the new blood going over the old. "They told me that I might see you, Jayne Kimber Terry."

"My name's _Plague_," she said, clenching her fists. "You don't _ever_ call me Jayne."

"Oh, you only wanted your parents calling you that, didn't you?" the girl said, walking towards them. As she continued to speak, she walked in a circle, keeping her eyes on the two constantly. "Too bad you killed them though. I heard they died horrific deaths. A mix of hemorrhagic fever and small pox, wasn't it? They'd never seen a case like it before. And to think, you did that. You killed you own—"

"_Shut up_!" Plague yelled. Her knuckles were white now, anger building inside of her.

"Don't you _dare_ mention my parents! You have no right!"

"Oh, seems like I struck a nerve," the girl said. "I've also heard that you refrain from using your powers. Whenever you do, you start crying like a baby. Pathetic. Ah, that's why you picked up my knife. Because you're scared."

"Who are you?" Plague hissed. "Why are you here?"

"Phantasm." She continued to walk around the two, staring at them as though they were children who were harmless. "I'm here to take you two to the police. They gave the highest bid for my assistance and I just couldn't resist. A mute whose only power is to hide like a coward and a girl who can kill anyone just by touching them with a finger tip but too weak to use it to her advantage. It sounded fun." Phantasm stopped in front of them, but continued to speak. "I'm a mercenary. And I'm good at what I do. Why, you ask? To answer your question, I'm a sociopath. I can toy with emotions because I don't have any myself, and I don't care what's right or wrong, just as long as I'm enjoying myself."

"So you're just a sick murderer," Plague said. "You don't care for anyone but yourself."

"And you care too much," Phantasm said. "You try to satisfy everyone around you and you refuse to acknowledge that everyone hates you. You think that, by doing selfless deeds, everyone will forget that you've killed so many people and be stupid enough to actually consider you a hero."

"You shouldn't be talking!" Plague shot back. "You kill innocent people for a living!"

"You're trying to make me feel guilty, aren't you, Jayne?" Phantasm said. Plague gave her a deadly glare as she continued. "Don't you remember? I. Don't. Care. Also, I can stop whenever I want. You can't."

"Then stop while—" Before she could finish her statement, Phantasm's fist had collided with her face. Plague lied stunned on the ground. She looked up at the other, waiting for the symptoms of a deadly, incurable disease to emerge. But it never happened. Phantasm held up one of her hands to show a glove covering her hand.

"They told me what to expect. Clothing can protect me, so I'm safe." Suddenly, she kicked Plague near her collarbone with immense force. Plague was dazed with pain as she fell flat on her back. Flashes of what was going on around her went before her eyes. Phantasm had grabbed her sleeves and pulled them away from her arms. She quickly tied a strong know at the ends of both sleeves and pulled out an object. It was a large, silver ring big enough to pass over her shoulders. Phantasm pulled it down to her mid waist and the ring suddenly contracted, leaving no space between Plague's clothing and her skin. Then, at that moment, Plague understood what she was doing. She could get her arms out of her sleeves and she couldn't pull off her hoodie. She was being rendered defenseless. But before she could do anything to stop her, Phantasm pulled the hood of the sweatshirt over Plague's head and tightly pulled on the drawstrings. She couldn't remove her arms and now she couldn't see. Now she felt something being put around her ankles, leaving her totally immobile.

There was silence now as Plague tried to think of a way out of this situation. But before a solution could come to mind, Phantasm's voice penetrated the silence. "Now, so you stay quiet…" There was a sharp pain in her rib cage. The pain shot through her body as she her footsteps go from in front of her to behind her. Now, pain rushed through her brain as a foot ran into the back of her head. Before the pain could at all fade away, two more kicks came, hitting the same spot. Now, she heard the footsteps leaving, her head spinning. She now heard something also being dragged, but it also sounded like a struggle. Then it hit her: it was Phantom. But she couldn't do anything now. She was helpless, unable to move and trapped in this alley. What was she going to do? No one would ever notice her. She couldn't to anything. As she tried to think of a way out, her battle against passing out was finished, and she unwillingly went into a painful, surreal sleep.

* * *

"We've gotta get you guys new clothes," Mia said. She looked their clothes up and down, causing some glares from Robin, Cyborg and Raven. Starfire looked confused as to why their clothes were in need of replacement.

"Please, Friend Mia, why must we get the new clothes?" Starfire asked timidly. "Surely our clothes are decent."

"I'm sorry, but... no," Mia replied, again looking at their clothing. "You stick out way too easily. Everyone here wears normal, simple clothes. You guys... well, how do I say this? Your clothes suck."

Starfire eyes looked hurt, and immediately afterwards, she looked close to crying. "I mean that in the nicest way possible," Mia said quickly. "Your clothes suck in a _good_ way! They're... _unique!_"

"Why do we have to get new clothes in the first place?" Robin asked somewhat harshly. Mia glared at him, seeing no meaning for his rudeness, but the other Titans understood his actions immediately.

"Because you need to see the city," Mia answered. "I'm going to tour you, because if you don't know the layout of the city, you're going to be wandering like dead turtles in the city, and you'll get us busted! Good enough for you, Stupid?"

The two had a glare match, sharing no words between them. Finally, after about a minute, they turned away from each other and Mia continued, now ignoring Robin. "Now, we already have a plan. Meghan and I are going out to the city to get clothes. We're just--"

"How are you getting them?" Raven asked, raising her eyebrow. "Do you have any money?" The Titans all looked at Mia, also curious, though Robin looked a little more hopeful that she wouldn't have an answer, proving him the obviously better leader.

"We will," Mia said. "That's all you need to know, 'kay? Anyways, we're just getting you simple clothes, nothing special. We can't have you standing out, or else we're dead." Without another word, she turned and motioned for Meghan to follow her.

* * *

About a half hour after the gang's "discussion," a man was walking down a street, on his way to work. Everything seemed fairly normal, everyone now ignoring the fact that diffs had been seen earlier that same day. However, one thing was not normal: by an alley about thirty feet away, he saw a girl glancing in all directions as if looking for someone. Suddenly, her glance fell on him.

"Hey, sir, could you help me?" Her eyes were pleading and innocent. She obviously meant no harm. He rushed up to her, hoping that this wouldn't take too long, He really needed to get to work.

"Waddya need, kid?" he asked. He looked around the area that he had been drawn to and realized that the alley was dark. He looked at the girl again, but still saw those innocent green eyes. He shook off the feeling of concern, and put his attention back to the girl.

"I need to show you something, Sir," she said, and she walked into the alley. The man watched as she stepped forwards and then followed cautiously.

"What is it?" he asked. He was starting to get a little apprehensive.

The girl laughed silently. "Oh, nothing." And, before he knew what happened, he was out cold on the ground, Mia now in view.

"I don't think you had to hit him that hard," Meghan said, looking down at the man. "I mean, you can knock him out, that's alright, but why give him a concussion?"

"Oh, c'mon, Meghan," Mia said, searching through the man's pockets. "I didn't give him a concussion! I just gave him a horrendous nosebleed!"

"Oh yeah, that's a _lot_ better," Meghan retorted, now also helping to search his pockets.

After a few seconds, Mia pulled out a wallet. She opened it, and in a few seconds pulled out several dollar bills. She threw the wallet aside and counted the money. "This guy's rich," Mia said. "He has almost two hundred dollars in cash." She paused and looked at the guy. "Well, had. He's not really smart. Why carry all of your money with you in a little wallet?"

* * *

About an hour and a half after they had left, Meghan and Mia arrived back, carrying several bags filled with clothes. The Titans came forward as Mia threw her bags to the floor. Meghan put hers down next to Mia's, a little bit more delicately this time.

"We got the best we could," Mia said. "If you don't like them, suck it up."

"Wait, how'd you get the money?" Cyborg asked.

Mia smirked. "Someone was nice enough to give us a... _donation_! They gave us a whole two hundred bucks!"

* * *

End of chapter!! Yay!

'Kay, disclaimers! The Teen Titans belong to Warner Brothers, Phantom and Plague belong to me, Phantasm belongs to Rabula Tasa, and Meghan belongs to tofurlz. Oh, and that stupid rich guy belongs to no one. Poor guy.

**I call the stupid rich dude! He's got money to burn!! I'll take all his money, then I'll say he's a diff and hand him over to the police! n.n Happy pocket, and the dude's gone. T'is a good plan, no?**

O.o Well, you're... wow.

Okay, gotta go. See you guys later!! TeSsA-MaRkOv out!!

**Bye, y'all! Don't forget to hit that Review button! You know you wanna!!**

**IamtotallyKewlio, O-U-T, out.**


	9. Chapter 9

Hey, ppls

**Hey, ppls!! IamtotallyKewlio here! Sorry about the wait!**

Yeah, a bit's been going on, and we haven't had a whole lot time to write. Well, ImtK hasn't... and it's not my fault? YESSS!!

**Nope, it's not her fault. Although, more than "a bit" has been happening. Anyway, part of the reason that I haven't been working on it is that I'm taking some of the characters and turning it into a fiction!! (Okay, so the idea for this story was originally **_**for**_** a fiction, but who cares?)**

Oh yeeaaaaahhh. -Just remembered- Yeah, I've read a lot of it so far, and it's really good!

**Why, thank you SJB. Which reminds me: not all of the characters fit, and most of them that do took some major tweakage, but is anyone horribly offended by the use of your character's name/likeness in a fiction by yours truly?**

Yeah, if you would prefer your character to not be in ImtK's story, you can PM us... or just PM on ImtK's profile. Or say it a review... okay, actually say it in a review! I wuvs reviews!!

**All right, see ya at the end of the chapter!!**

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_Previously…_

_Meghan and Mia arrived back, carrying several bags filled with clothes. The Titans came forward as Mia threw her bags to the floor. Meghan put hers down next to Mia's, a little bit more delicately this time._

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Mia gestured toward the bags that she and Meghan had brought back. "Well," she asked, giving the team a questioning look, "are you going to pick something out, or not?" Giving a slight shrug, pretending he didn't mind wearing clothes that had been bought with money from… a questionable source, Robin leaned forward and grabbed the bag closest to him, dropping it at his feet and kneeling down to go through it. As though suddenly remembering something, Mia picked up a large, bulging plastic bag that had been tied shut at the top and tossed it at Cyborg. "Here," she stated before tossing it at him. "We got these ones –nice catch- for you. They're… uh…"

"A bit larger," Meghan jumped in, realizing Mia didn't want to offend Cyborg. "We –well, Mia really- noticed that you're a little broader in the shoulders and taller than most of the rest of us." Cyborg looked appreciative. The last thing he needed was a repeat of the time the team had tried on Robin's extra costumes. He hadn't told anyone, but having to use two outfits to cover his body had been embarrassing, even if he wasn't overweight, just bigger.

Raven, not bothering to come forward to grab a bag, encased one with her powers, levitating and opening it, holding it out in front of her while she began to sort through it. The first thing she found she tossed aside immediately, that being a small, short-sleeved dark gray shirt with white long sleeves sewn underneath. It resembled Terra's original garb a little too much for her tastes. Mia gave Meghan a puzzled look, which Meghan returned. Both of them had agreed that the purple-haired girl would probably like that shirt. Luckily, they had both picked out other things as well.

Meghan cast a glace Starfire's way. The red-haired girl had yet to choose a bag to look through. Meghan looked by her feet and selected a largish sack, picking it up and trying to catch the other girl's eye. "Hey, Starfire, try this one," Meghan suggested, ready to toss it to her when she looked up. Starfire eyes darted upward at the sound of her name. She felt a slight nervousness as she recognized the brown-eyed-and-haired girl from before, the one she had offended by asking about her parents. The girl flashed her a bright smile, reminding her of one of Beast Boy's, before tossing her the package she held in her hands. Somewhat excited to be going through their purchases –it was almost like venturing to the mall of shopping, was it not? The only difference was that she was not required to reimburse these people for the clothing she took- Starfire tore into the bag she was given, but not before returning Meghan's smile.

"Thank you, friend Meghan," she said, hoping that Meghan caught the word 'friend.'

Hearing a frustrated groan, Mia turned toward the black-haired leader, Robin, who, she noticed, was currently going through his third bag of clothing. She raised an eyebrow as he quickly rooted through that one as well, then let out an exasperated sigh and reached for another bag. "Excuse me, sir," she said, doing her best imitation of an employee at a clothing store, "Is there something I can help you find today?" Robin glowered up into the smiling face of Mia, completely unimpressed.

"Yeah, actually. Didn't you guys grab anything _red_?" Mia crouched down beside him, shaking her head.

"Nope," she responded, her seemingly perpetual grin on her face. "Red's too vibrant. People notice you too easily."

"What about a darker red?" he pleaded, wanting to dress in something that felt… right. Her eyes narrowed at him as her smile dropped.

"No," she stated flatly. He blinked behind his mask; he hadn't been expecting that kind of a reaction from her.

"Why not?" he challenged, not willing to accept defeat so quickly.

"Because," she countered, "dark red is the color the police wear." Then, she dropped the subject. "How about…" she started, pulling out a random shirt. "How about this one?" Robin stared at the shirt for a second. It was gray with a wide blue stripe that started at the right shoulder and went straight to the bottom of the shirt.

"Er… I'd prefer something with short sleeves," he said, giving his own sleeves a light tug. She shrugged, tossing the shirt aside. Plaster raced over and grabbed it, calling,

"Hey, Ivory Overlord! I've got another one for our game!" Mia decided not to ask.

"Sweet!" responded a voice she knew to be Over's. "Bring it here and I'll add it to the rope!" She glanced up, wanting to ensure they weren't tying anyone up or anything like that, and was surprised to see that neither of them were wearing shirts. Upon further inspection, she realized that they had tied their two shirts together and were currently adding the reject. She continued to watch as they both grabbed an end of the makeshift rope and started pulling. _Tug-of-war_, she realized, nodding once to herself before continuing to search for something for Robin to wear.

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Cyborg pulled out a large, dark blue sweatshirt with a hood. On the front it had a little white emblem he didn't recognize. Shrugging, he decided that he rather liked this one and folded it, setting it aside as he looked for a pair of pants. He found a faded pair of jeans –actually the fourth pair he had found, however, the others had been holey, showing off his cybernetic parts- that looked as though they would fit him nicely. He hadn't seen any shoes in the bag, so he assumed that Mia thought his shoes –or feet, rather- were fine.

Raven cast a glance over at her pile of "rejects," which included a lime green tank top, a pair of yellow "short" shorts, a thin, oversized white T-shirt, and a pale blue pair of Capri's, before adding the light pink collared shirt she held to it. She picked up another item, this time a pair of blue jeans that had a hole in the knee. She sighed and slipped them on over her costume, adjusting her belt so that it sat over them. She looked through the bag again, this time searching for… Aha! She pulled out a light gray zip-up sweater with a hood. Upon further inspection, she realized that it was really more of a hooded vest. Shrugging, she undid the clasp that held her cloak up, letting it drop to the ground, and slipped the sleeveless sweater on.

Starfire continued rooting through her pile of all of the glorious things she had found in the two bags she had gone through, –a pile which mainly consisted of pinks, purples and oranges of various shades and intensities- finally deciding on the dark purple "short" shorts and… actually, she hadn't found a shirt yet. She cast a glance over at Raven's piles to see how her friend was doing and saw a lovely light pink collared shirt with short sleeves.

"Friend Raven," she gasped, "may I use that item?" Raven followed her finger's path to the shirt she had just tossed on the pile.

"Go ahead," she said, shrugging while casually flipping her hood up onto her head. "I'm not going to." Starfire, who had descended upon the pile of clothing like a hyena on fresh meat, looked up, already clutching the shirt as though it was the very meaning of life.

"Are you certain, friend?" she asked. "I do not wish to take something that-"

"I'm sure," Raven insisted, cutting her friend off. "Go on." Starfire gave an excited squeal and raced back over to her pile. Robin, meanwhile, with the help of Mia, had selected a white T-shirt emblazoned with a dark blue symbol across the chest that matched the smaller, white one on his black sweatpants. Both of these were folded in half and draped over his arm.

"Hang on a sec," said Mia; reaching for Robin's mask, "you can't wear that." Robin grabbed her arm with one hand, took a step back so she couldn't reach him, and put his other hand protectively over his mask, all in one fluid motion.

"The mask stays," he informed her, in a voice that just dared her to challenge him. She shook her head.

"Sorry, but the mask goes. If you keep it, then there was no point in changing your clothes. I mean, look at it. It practically screams, "Look at me! I shouldn't be here!"" she declared, waving her hands about in the air as though it would make Robin believe her. Meghan, unnoticed, slipped out of the larger room, and headed down the hallway, making straight for her room.

A few moments later, with Mia and Robin's argument escalating and everyone in the room seeking cover, Meghan reemerged, clutching something in one of her hands. She waltzed up behind Robin and tapped him on the shoulder, clearing her throat.

"What?" he bellowed with so much irritation that Meghan could swear she saw fire flying from his mouth and blazing in his eyes… er, mask. Responding only with a frightened "eep!" noise, she backed away a little and held out the object she had brought for him.

"H-here," she stuttered, afraid he might bite her head off for interrupting his argument. Robin, still fuming, looked at the thing she had handed him and… sighed. Although he was still technically losing, at least, with this solution, his eyes were still covered.

"These'll work," he said, slipping the sunglasses on and removing the mask from underneath them. "Now," he said, turning once more to Mia, "where can we change?"

"Starfire can use my room," Meghan offered. Plaster –who, Mia noticed, was now wearing a shirt again, although it _did_ look a little stretched out- raised his hand, waving it about in the air excitedly.

"Cyborg can use mine!" he exclaimed. Casting a glance Cyborg's way, he grinned. "Least I can do after playing that trick on you."

"Robin, puedes usar… er… you can use my room," Magico suggested.

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Beast Boy's sensitive ears twitched, picking up the sound of footsteps outside the door. As the handle turned, he looked up, half-expecting it to be Greg, ready to take him to get "cured." He shuddered involuntarily, images that he had been thinking about resurfacing. His head fell back into his hands, his eyes refocusing on the ground. A short, Japanese-looking man pushed the door open, sticking his head in as though checking to see if the room was occupied. His dark eyes fell on Beast Boy, who hadn't even bothered to look up.

"C'mon," he said in a tired-sounding voice, as though that was the millionth time he had repeated that phrase. "Lunch time." His hand also poked into the room, making a "come here" gesture with his pointer finger. Beast Boy stood, immediately heading to the door, ready to follow the man he recognized as Ronin. His quick reaction had something to do with Greg's words echoing in his head: "…_if you don't toe the line, the same will happen to you_." There was no way he was going to upset these guys.

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Powerhouse looked up as Ronin brought another group of ten kids, ready for their lunch shift. His eyes scanned the new arrivals, though his only motive was to find something to keep himself entertained. He noticed a couple of kids he recognized, only two or three though. They headed right to various tables, their heads down, eyes locked on the floor. The seven others, new victims, were standing in a little group, looking lost. Powerhouse was about to stand up and whistle them over to his table –he found a somewhat cruel sense of enjoyment at confusing the new kids, not to mention tormenting them, but couldn't help it; he was a bully by nature- when he noticed another kid standing away from the group, his eyes scanning the room, looking somewhat nervous.

"Hey, Shift," he said, elbowing the only other person at the table in the ribs. He grinned as Shift winced; his super strength would already have made the blow somewhat uncomfortable, but Shift had been training as a punishment only an hour or so ago, and his bruises were still extremely tender. He heard him mumble an "ouch" before responding.

"What?" sighed the albino shape shifter, looking up at Powerhouse. "What is it now?"

"Take a look over there," Powerhouse responded, pointing out the kid he was looking at. Shift glanced at the line that had formed as the new arrivals got their lunch, a few kids leaving the tables they were sitting at to join it, raising an eyebrow at the person he thought his friend –and he used the term 'friend' lightly- was pointing out.

"Who, her?" he asked, singling out a girl with two long light brown braids hanging halfway down her back, multiple strands of hair loose here and there, giving the impression she had fallen asleep with her hair braided. She seemed to realize that she was being talked about and looked over her shoulder at him, showing him her plain hazel eyes, then quickly faced forward again. She, like the rest of the people (or diffs, actually, seeing as the police refused to see them as actual people) in the room, was dressed in the usual "police diff" attire, a loose, black, short-sleeved shirt and a shapeless pair of black pants. Shift shrugged. "She isn't much to look at, and she does not seem like your type-" Powerhouse cut him off, frustrated.

"No, not her. _Him_. That guy." Powerhouse pointed again. Shift looked again, still not seeing anything interesting, then took a double take, his pale purple eyes widening. A boy had just slipped to the end of the line, a boy that he recognized quite easily.

"Beast Boy?" he exclaimed, making the boy in question look up, his eyes darting around anxiously. Shift looked away so that he wouldn't be singled out, his hair and skin darkening to a light brown so he wouldn't be recognized. It was Powerhouse's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"That's his name? Waitaminute, how do _you_ know him?" Powerhouse asked, placing a hand on Shift's shoulder and turning him around so that he was facing him once again. "And why did you act like that?"

"I know him because I led him to the police ambush." Shift paused a moment, running his fingers through his light brown hair as it slowly faded back to white. "How do you know him?" Powerhouse shook his head.

"First tell me why you reacted like that."

"Fine," sighed Shift, crossing his arms over his chest. "It is just that I was not expecting to see him. I figured that they would have cured him by now. Or that he would be in one of those… testing rooms." The two of them shared a shudder before Shift continued. "He is not what they have defined as 'useful,'" he explained. "Now, how do you know him?"

"I was _part_ of the police ambush." Suddenly, Powerhouse got a mischievous grin on his face. "So I'm guessing the two of you don't get along very well," he said. Shift shook his head warily, wondering where his friend –again, using the term lightly- was going with this. "This'll be good." Before Shift could stop him, not that he could have done much anyway, Powerhouse was on his feet and waving at Beast Boy, who had finished getting his food and was –wouldn't you know it- looking for a place to sit. "Hey, Beast Boy!" he called, getting the green boy's attention easily, "Come sit over here!"

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Beast Boy looked up for the second time, ready to be somewhat irritated if he couldn't figure out who was calling him this time. A tall boy was standing up and waving at him, motioning for him to come and sit down at his empty-looking table. He hesitated for a moment. Why did this boy seem familiar? Beast Boy looked at him a bit longer. Sandy brown hair and a pair of plain green eyes… could be anyone. The boy was getting impatient, his gestures getting a little wilder. Shrugging, Beast Boy decided it was safe and headed over.

"Hey, Beast Boy," the boy said in greeting, sitting back down as he got closer. Beast Boy ignored the warning bells going crazy in the back of his head, the ones that were telling him that this was _not_ who he should be sitting with. "Why don't you just sit next to me?" Responding with nothing more than a shrug, Beast Boy slid into the seat he had been offered. His attention turned to his plate of food, causing him to grimace. The lady who had given him his food had ignored his protests about the mainly-meat meal he had been served, leaving him with a good deal of food he wasn't going to touch if he could help it. He began sorting it, poking the meat –chicken, it looked like, and it was still on the bone (gross…)- away from the edible stuff with a plastic fork.

Powerhouse and Shift stared as Beast Boy pushed the meat on his plate away from him, instead attacking the veggies and piece of fruit he had been given. After a few seconds, he seemed to realize that they were staring at him.

"What?" he asked around his fifth forkful of vegetables. The taller boy continued to stare, although the other, white-haired boy, who Beast Boy hadn't noticed before, looked away quickly, turning his pale purple eyes elsewhere. The feeling that something was very wrong came back again, though he still couldn't place it.

"You're not going to eat that?" the taller boy, who, he now noticed, was built much larger than himself or the other boy, asked him, poking his finger in the direction of Beast Boy's plate. He glanced at it and shook his head.

"Nope. I'm a vegetarian." He opened his bottle of water and took a swig. "I don't eat meat."

"Can I have it?" Powerhouse asked before Shift could even think of asking. Nodding, Beast Boy took another drink of water. Suddenly, his eyes widened in recognition. Water sprayed out of his nose in surprise as he backed away from them, nearly falling off the bench.

"Dude! I know who you are!"

Powerhouse pretended to be confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked, his mouth full of (Beast Boy's) chicken. As Beast Boy made a move to get up and leave the table, Powerhouse slung his arm around his shoulder –a friendly enough gesture from afar- pulling him back into his spot and forcing him to stay there via his super strength. Beast Boy squirmed a bit, trying to get away, until Powerhouse hissed a threat in his ear. "Knock it off, unless you want to see how many bones I can break before that guard over there can stop me."

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Cyborg followed Plaster to the room with his name scrawled on it, the one that he took to be his room. To his surprise, Plaster kept going until he reached the room that said 'Meghan' on it –and in much neater handwriting, Cyborg noticed. He grabbed the handle, then turned to Cyborg.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, puzzled. He opened the door and was about to walk in, when Cyborg asked,

"Isn't this your room?" He indicated the door that said 'Plaster' on it. Plaster laughed and shook his head.

"Nope! That's Meghan's room!" he said with a grin. "We switched it just a little while before you guys showed up. Over traded his and Fang's, too. I wasn't so sure that was a good idea, but it'll be funny when Mia notices." He rubbed his hands together in a way that could easily be mistaken for 'I have an evil plot.' Doing his best to ignore the evil plot that Plaster seemed to be cooking, Cyborg followed him into the room.

Immediately, he noticed that this room was different than the ones he had seen. Instead of the dirt walls, floors, and ceilings he had become accustomed to, the walls were made of unpainted cement blocks, and the floor was hardwood.

"Are everyone's rooms like this?" Cyborg wondered out loud. Plaster shook his head with a grin.

"Nope. I got connections."

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Starfire followed Meghan all the way to Plaster's room, surprised to see her open it and walk in. "But, friend Meghan, surely we should not-" Meghan smiled and explained the prank quickly. "Oh," Starfire giggled, entering the room as well.

Meghan's room had dirt walls, floor, and ceiling. There was a bed in the far corner, a dark purple rug on the floor, and a dresser to one side. The walls had various posters and pictures tacked up, as though Meghan was trying to hide the dirt.

"Well…" The word made Starfire look up, startled out of her observations. Meghan was halfway out the door, smiling awkwardly. "I'm just gonna leave now. You can… uh… change or whatever." She slipped out, closing the door behind herself. Starfire looked around again. The blanket on Meghan's bed was made of multiple pieces of fabric sewn together… a quilt of patchworking, was it called? Some of them were soft looking, others just pretty. She ran her hand over it before deciding that she should probably get to changing her clothing.

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Magico lead the way to his room, opening the door so that Robin could step inside. "Cambines muy rapido, por favor, porque… er, Change quickly, please. Mia… va a querer … will want to leave as soon as you are… listo… ready." Robin raised an eyebrow.

"Leave? Where are we going?" Magico blinked.

"Pienso que… I mean, I thought that she already told you. Va a…she's going to take you on a tour de la ciudad." Magico seemed to have a habit of speaking Spanish, Robin noted, although it was a lot less infuriating because he _did_ repeat himself in English.

"I see. Thanks for telling me." Robin did vaguely remember her saying something about a tour before she and Meghan left to buy the clothes. Without any further acknowledgement, Robin walked into the room, and Magico closed the door without having entered. Before changing his clothes, Robin glanced around, out of habit. There was a dresser made of some wooden boxes taken apart and pieced back together, a few framed photos sitting on it, and a bed with a black blanket and a white pillow. Other than that, the room looked just like the "living room" had.

The bed was in disarray, the blanket wadded up, sheets wrinkled and pillow crooked. Robin stared at it for a moment, his hand hovering in the air as though it was trying to decide what to do with itself. In reality, Robin was struggling with an OCD impulse to make Magico's bed. Sighing, he gave in, trying to ignore the nagging side of him that said this was a creepy thing to be doing. Having satisfied that itch, Robin took another quick look around, and then undid his cape and slipped his shirt off, snatching up the other seconds later.

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Raven, who had changed into her clothes as soon as she had found them, looked at Mia with a raised eyebrow. She was clearly getting impatient. She tapped her foot and every now and then would glance down at her wrist, though, Raven noticed, she wore no watch. After a short while –less than a minute- she walked over to the entranceway of the tunnel that they had come in through. Suddenly, a shadow appeared in the yawning hole in the wall, surprising Raven, but not Mia.

"Hey, Fang!" she greeted. Raven blinked. She hadn't even known he'd left. She heard Fang say something, but she couldn't make out the words. "Yeah, they just went to change. You saw what they were wearing. Raven and Starfire-" Fang cut her off with a tone that sounded questioning. "They're the two girls. Their outfits might have passed, but Robin and Cyborg-" Fang cut her off again. "Yeah, they're the two guys. But that other kid was with them, too. You know, the one the police took?" Fang nodded. "So, when they _finally_ finish changing, I'm going to take them on a little tour of the city."

Fang said something else that Raven couldn't hear. "Yes, alone," said Mia, putting her hands on her hips and sounding a little indignant. She heard low laughter, followed by Fang saying something else. "No, you're not. We'll be fine without-" Fang cut her off again. "Yes, I know that police activity has gone up. _I_ told _you_, remember?" Pause. "No, I don't know why." Raven was just contemplating moving closer so she could hear Fang's side of the argument when Mia threw her hands up in the air and said, "Fine! I guess if I didn't give you the go-ahead you'd probably just follow us anyway." She heard Fang's low laughter again, followed by a barely audible,

"Prob'ly." Mia stalked away, muttering something under her breath.

"Stupid razzm-frazzm shape-shifting… Thinks he knows… right. Dang it," was all Raven could catch. Fang waltzed into the main room, arms crossed and hood over his head, chuckling to himself. He looked up as he passed her, dark green eyes meeting hers for a second, his fang practically glowing, even in the dim underground lighting.

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**So, that was it. I tried to make it really long, both to make up for the fact that we haven't updated in FOREVER, and the fact that, honestly, not much happened. Seriously, this is, like, nine pages (over 4,000 words) of NOTHING. I hope this read didn't bore you. **

**SJB's unavailable, so this is going to be a short (or maybe long) monologue until I get a hold of her. Hope you're-**

Hi, guys! :D Oh, hey, ImTK. Why do you look so annoyed?

…

Oh… Did I interrupt one of your rants again?

**Yes. May I continue?**

No. :P You can't. –ImTK growls- Er… I mean, go ahead. Heh, heh. Don't eat me!!

**Thank you. And don't worry; I just ate. –toothy grin- Part of the reason the opening part (where the Titans are picking out clothes) is so mind-numbingly long is because one of my pet peeves is when, in Fanfiction, somebody changes the Titans' clothes for no apparent reason-**

Are you done yet? I'm getting bored! .

–**and in a non-creative way. (i.e., Instead of his/her costume, So-and-so was wearing a white muscle shirt/tight tank top and a pair of dark blue shorts/a mini skirt.) Just one of my personal rants. –grins- Toss me a review and tell me what you thought of my version.**

I liked it! Especially the part about Robin and his mask! (I told ImTK to add it, but (s)he already had. :P) And here I was hoping that _I'd_ be able to write that part….

**O.o Anyway, I also tried to give Cy a little floor time. Poor guy is constantly ignored. Give him some love, people!! Even robots need love!! (And green dudes with (l33t) pointy ears. They need love too.)**

C'mon, you _know_ chicks dig the ears! Well, ImTK is giving me a glare that means, "SJB, I want to put this up now!!" So, bye!

**Yeah, bye, y'all! IamtotallyKewlio, O-U-T, out.**

**(8/20 Edit: I added the line breaks… took me forever, too. :P)**


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